| Summary: | While religiosity is
positively correlated with self-reported prosociality, observational and
experimental studies on the long-hypothesized connection between religion and
prosocial behavior have yielded mixed results. Recent work highlights the role
of religious salience for stimulating prosocial behavior, but much of this
research has involved priming Christian subjects in laboratory settings,
limiting generalization to the real world. Here I present a field study
conducted in the souks in the medina of Marrakesh, Morocco, which shows that
religious salience can increase prosocial behavior with Muslim subjects in a
natural setting. In an economic decision making task similar to a dictator
game, shopkeepers demonstrated increased prosocial behavior when the Islamic
call to prayer was audible compared to when it was not audible. This finding
complements a growing literature on the connection between cultural cues,
religious practices, and prosocial behavior, and supports the hypothesis that
religious rituals play a role in galvanizing prosocial behavior.
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