ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory
Beliefs That Bind: Moralizing Religion Create Shared Moral Order
Friday, October 23, 2026 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT
Vernon Smith Hall (formerly Metropolitan Building), 5183
The ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory of the Fall 2026 semester will feature:
George Mason University
Beliefs That Bind: Moralizing Religion Create Shared Moral Order
Abstract
Scholars have long argued that religion helps sustain social order by binding individuals into a shared moral community. Yet direct empirical evidence on this coordinating role remains limited. We test it in a lab-in-the-field experiment with 720 Muslim participants in rural Bangladesh. Participants are randomly assigned to conditions making salient a moralizing Islamic figure (Pir), a traditional supernatural practitioner (Gunin), or neither. The Pir increases honest rule-following and strengthens injunctive norms against dishonesty, while changing personal normative beliefs only modestly. Our results reveal substantial pluralistic ignorance: participants personally disapprove of dishonesty more strongly than they believe others do. The Pir narrows this gap by approximately 40 percent relative to control, despite providing no direct information about others’ views. The Gunin produces no comparable effects. The Pir also produces behavioral compression. This finding extends across religious traditions: our reanalysis of experiments in eight societies spanning Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism likewise shows behavioral compression under moralizing religious salience. Observational evidence from Nigeria connects shared religious affiliation to the same distinction between personal convictions and normative expectations. Religiously homogeneous areas exhibit stronger injunctive norms against rule violations and less pluralistic ignorance, without detectable differences in personal normative beliefs. Together, these findings identify a coordinating function of moralizing religion that extends beyond its influence on individual morality to the shared expectations that support social norms.
For more information about the Seminar Series, please visit the Seminar Schedule homepage.
