Abstract
This chapter investigates the relationship between religiosity and trust. First, the relevant literature is summarized and discussed. Second, a new light is shed on the relationship between religiosity and trust through the simultaneous examination of two dimensions of religiosity: individual and social. Finally, the relationship between religiosity and trust is explored using the example of the United States where it is found that social religiosity or belonging (services attendance, church membership) increases trust, while individual religiosity or believing (prayer, closeness to, and belief in God) lowers trust. Individuals who claimed to believe in God tend to trust other people less. The ingroup favoritism and outgroup distrust theory is used in this chapter to explain why connecting with God disrupts connection with humans. The chapter also underscores the importance of studying how religiosity affects trust, particularly given the significant impact that trust can have on human interaction and behavior.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alesina A, Ferrara E (2000) The determinants of trust. NBER
Alesina A, Ferrara E (2002) Who trusts others? J Public Econ 85(2):207–234
Anderson C, Berdahl JL (2002) The experience of power: examining the effects of power on approach and inhibition tendencies. J Pers Soc Psychol 83:1362
Auriol E, Delissaint D, Fourati M, Miquel-Florensa J, Seabright P (2021) Trust in the image of God: links between religiosity and reciprocity in Haiti. Econ Transit Institut Change 29(1):3–34
Batara JBL, Franco PS, Quiachon MAM, Sembrero DRM (2016) Effects of religious priming concepts on prosocial behavior towards ingroup and outgroup. Eur J Psychol 12(4):635
Begue L (2002) Beliefs in justice and faith in people: just world, religiosity and interpersonal trust. Personal Individ Differ 32:375–382
Bellemare C, Kroger S (2007) On representative social capital. Eur Econ Rev 51(1):183–202
Berggren N, Bjornskov C (2009) Does religiosity promote or discourage social trust? Evidence from cross-country and cross-state comparisons. SSRN eLibrary
Berggren N, Bjornskov C (2011) Is the importance of religion in daily life related to social trust? Cross-country and cross-state comparisons. J Econ Behav Organ 80:459–480
Berggren N et al (2008) Trust and growth: a shaky relationship. Empir Econ 35(2):251–274
Berggren N, Jordahl H (2006) Free to trust: economic freedom and social capital. Kyklos 59:141–169
Bjornskov C (2007) Determinants of generalized trust: a cross-country comparison. Public Choice 130(1–2):1–21
Botsman R (2012) The currency of the new economy is trust. TEDGlobal 2012. Available at: https://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_botsman_the_currency_of_the_new_economy_is_trust/
Brañas-Garza P, Rossi M, Zaclicever D (2009) Individual’s religiosity enhances trust: Latin American evidence for the puzzle. J Money Credit Bank 41:555–566
Byrne DE (1971) The attraction paradigm, vol 11. Academic Press
Camerer C (2003) Behavioral game theory: experiments in strategic interaction. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Daniels JP, Von Der Ruhr M (2010) Trust in others: does religion matter? Rev Soc Econ 68:163–186
Davie G (2006) Religion in Europe in the 21st century: the factors to take into account. Eur J Sociol/Archives Europeanness de Sociologie 47:271–296
D’Hernoncourt J, Méon PG (2012) The not so dark side of trust: does trust increase the size of the shadow economy? J Econ Behav Organ 81(1):97–121
Dilmaghani M (2017) Religiosity and social trust: evidence from Canada. Rev Soc Econ 75(1):49–75
Dingemans E, Van Ingen E (2015) Does religion breed trust? A cross-national study of the effects of religious involvement, religious faith, and religious context on social trust. J Sci Study Relig 54(4):739–755
Epley N, Akalis S, Waytz A, Cacioppo JT (2008) Creating social connection through inferential reproduction loneliness and perceived agency in gadgets, gods, and greyhounds. Psychol Sci 19:114–120
Ezirim GE, Mbah PO, Nwagwu EJ, Eze IC, Nche GC, Chukwuorji JC (2021) Trust and trustworthiness in a sub-Saharan African sample: contributions of personality and religiosity. Soc Indic Res 153(3):1087–1107
Fehr E, Fischbacher U (2002) Why social preferences matter-the impact of non-selfish motives on competition, cooperation and incentives. Econ J 112(478):C1–C33
Fiske ST (2009) Social beings: Core motives in social psychology. Wiley
Galinsky AD, Rucker DD, Magee JC (2015) Power: past findings, present considerations, and future directions, vol 3. APA Handbook of Personality and Social Psychology
Gervais WM, Shariff AF, Norenzayan A (2011) Do you believe in atheists? Distrust is central to anti-atheist prejudice. J Pers Soc Psychol 101:1189
Hall DL, Matz DC, Wood W (2010) Why don’t we practice what we preach? A meta-analytic review of religious racism. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 14:126–139
Halman L, Pettersson T (2001) Religion and social capital in contemporary Europe: results from the 1999/2000 European values study. In: Research in the social scientific study of religion, pp 1265–1294
Helliwell JF, Putnam RD (2004) The social context of well-being. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biol Sci 359(1449):1435–1446
Helliwell JF (2006) Well-being, social capital and public policy: what’s new? Econ J 116(510):C34–C45
Hempel LM, Matthews T, Bartkowski J (2012) Trust in a “fallen world”: the case of protestant theological conservatism. J Sci Study Relig 51:522–541
Hess L, Almazov T (2019) Towards a better understanding of religious priming: an experiment proposal. Penn J Philos Polit Econ 14(2):5
Hoffmann R (2013) The experimental economics of religion. J Econ Surv 27(5):813–845
Iannaccone LR (1998) Introduction to the economics of religion. J Econ Lit:3665–1496
Inesi ME, Botti S, Dubois D, Rucker DD, Galinsky AD (2011) Power and choice: their dynamic interplay in quenching the thirst for personal control. Psychol Sci 22:1042–1048
Jamal A (2007) When is social trust a desirable outcome? Examining levels of trust in the Arab world. Comp Pol Stud 40:1328–1349
Keltner D, Gruenfeld DH, Anderson C (2003) Power, approach, and inhibition. Psychol Rev 110:265
Kirkpatrick LA (2005) Attachment, evolution, and the psychology of religion. Guilford Press
Kramer RM (1999) Trust and distrust in organizations: emerging perspectives, enduring questions. Annu Rev Psychol 50:569–598
Lammers J, Galinsky AD, Gordijn EH, Otten S (2012) Power increases social distance. Soc Psychol Personal Sci 3:282–290
La Porta R et al (1996) Trust in large organizations. National Bureau of Economic Research
Lim C, Putnam RD (2010) Religion, social networks, and life satisfaction. Am Sociol Rev 75(6):914–933
Lim C, MacGregor CA (2012) Religion and volunteering in context: disentangling the contextual effects of religion on voluntary behavior. Am Sociol Rev 77(5):747–779
Lount RB (2010) The impact of positive mood on trust in interpersonal and intergroup interactions. J Pers Soc Psychol 98:420–433
Loveland MT, Capella AG, Maisonet I (2017) Prosocial skeptics: skepticism and generalized trust. Critic Res Relig 5(3):251–265
McCleary R, Barro RJ (2006) Religion and economy. J Econ Perspect 20(2):49–72
McPherson M, Smith-Lovin L, Cook JM (2001) Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annu Rev Sociol:415–444
Mencken FC, Bader C, Embry E (2009) In God we trust: images of god and trust in the United States among the highly religious. Soc Perspect 52:23–38
Meuleman B, Billiet J (2011) Religious involvement: its relation to values and social attitudes. In: Cross-cultural analysis: methods and applications. Routledge, London, pp 173–206
Norenzayan A, Sharif AF (2008) The origin and evolution of religious prosociality. Science 322:58–62
Nooteboom B (2002) Trust: forms, foundations, functions, failures and figures. Edward Elgar Publishing
Niu G, Zhao G (2018) Religion and trust in strangers among China’s rural-urban migrants. China Econ Rev 50:265–272
Nunziata L, Toffolutti V (2019) “Thou shalt not smoke”: religion and smoking in a natural experiment of history. SSM-population health 8:100412
Okulicz-Kozaryn A (2010) Religiosity and life satisfaction across nations. Mental Health Relig Cult 13:155–169
Orbell J, Goldman M, Mulford M, Dawes R (1992) Religion, context, and constraint toward strangers. Ration Soc 4:291–307
Pew Research Center (2019) In U.S. decline of Christianity continues at rapid pace. October 17, 2019. https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/
Putnam RD (2001) Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. Simon & Schuster, New York
Rotter JB (1971) Generalized expectancies for interpersonal trust. Am Psychol 26:443–452
Rowatt W, Kirkpatrick LA (2002) Two dimensions of attachment to god and their relation to affect, religiosity, and personality constructs. J Sci Study Relig 41:637–651
Shariff AF, Willard AK, Andersen T, Norenzayan A (2016) Religious priming: a meta-analysis with a focus on prosociality. Pers Soc Psychol Rev 20(1):27–48
Schoenfeld E (1978) Image of man: the effect of religion on trust: a research note. Rev Relig Res:61–67
Sedikides C (2010) Why does religiosity persist? Pers Soc Psychol Rev 14:3–6
Smidt C (1999) Religion and civic engagement: a comparative analysis. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci 565:176–192
Sosis R (2005) Does religion promote trust? The role of signaling, reputation, and punishment. Interdiscip J Res Relig 1:1–30
Spierings N (2019) Social trust in the Middle East and North Africa: the context-dependent impact of citizens’ socio-economic and religious characteristics. Eur Sociol Rev 35(6):894–911
Tajfel H (1982) Social psychology of intergroup relations. Annu Rev Psychol 33:1–39
Tajfel H, Billig MG, Bundy RP, Flament C (1971) Social categorization and intergroup behaviour. Eur J Soc Psychol 1:149–178
Tan JH, Vogel C (2008) Religion and trust: an experimental study. J Econ Psychol 29:832–848
Thunström L, Jones Ritten C, Bastian C, Minton E, Zhappassova D (2021) Trust and trustworthiness of Christians, Muslims, and atheists/agnostics in the United States. J Sci Study Relig 60(1):147–179
Traunmuller R (2009) Individual religiosity, religious context, and the creation of social trust in Germany. Schmollers Jahr 129:357–365
Uslaner E (2002) The moral foundations of trust. Cambridge University Press
Uslaner E (2003) Trust, democracy and governance: can government policies influence generalized trust? Generating social capital. Springer, pp 171–190
Uslaner EM (2012) Segregation and mistrust: diversity, isolation, and social cohesion. Cambridge University Press
Valente RR, Okulicz-Kozaryn A (2021) Religiosity and trust: evidence from the United States. Rev Relig Res 63(3):343–379
Veenstra G (2002) Explicating social capital: trust and participation in the civil space. Can J Sociol/Cahiers Canadiens de Sociologie 27:547–572
Vohs KD, Mead NL, Goode MR (2006) The psychological consequences of money. Science 314:1154–1156
Vohs KD, Mead NL, Goode MR (2008) Merely activating the concept of money changes personal and interpersonal behavior. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 17:208–212
Wald KD, Silverman AL, Fridy KS (2005) Making sense of religion in political life. Annu Rev Polit Sci 8(1):121–143
Wald K, Wilcox C (2006) Getting religion: has political science rediscovered the faith factor? Am Polit Sci Rev 100(4):523–529
Welch M, Sikkink D, Loveland M (2007) The radius of trust: religion, social embeddedness and trust in strangers. Soc Forces 86:23–46
Welch MR, Sikkink D, Sartain E, Bond C (2004) Trust in god and trust in man: the ambivalent role of religion in shaping dimensions of social trust. J Sci Study Relig 43:317–343
Xu H, Liu Y, Liang J (2018) How religion impacts deception and trust behavior: evidence from a lab-in-the-field experiment in China. J Neurosci Psychol Econ 11(4):239
Yzerbyt V, Demoulin S (2010) Intergroup relations. Handbook of social psychology
Zak P, Knack S (2001) Trust and growth. Econ J 111(470):295–321
Acknowledgments
Responsible Section Editor: Olga Popova
The article has benefitted from valuable comments of the editors and anonymous referees.
Financial Support
None. There is no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Valente, R.R., Okulicz-Kozaryn, A., Zaki, E.M. (2022). Religion and Trust. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_285-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_285-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57365-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57365-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences