Religious costly signal induces more trustworthiness than secular costly signal : A study of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
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| Description | Previous research suggested that costly displays of commitment to group norms increase trust and facilitate cooperation. Such costly displays are characteristic for expressions of religious beliefs, which are tied to religious normative systems. Using the Christian pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela as a costly display of commitment we investigated whether costly behaviors are more effective in promoting trust when integrated within a religious rather than secular context. I will present the results of two survey studies conducted in the field and three online experiments. The survey studies show that pilgrims base their pilgrim identity upon the physical effort and overall costliness of the pilgrimage. The experiments suggest that religious people undertaking longer pilgrimage are perceived as more trustworthy than those undertaking shorter pilgrimage or non-pilgrimage low-cost activity linked to their religious identity. Crucially, we observed lower or no effect when the hike was not a pilgrimage and done by non-believer for non-religious reasons. Overall, these results suggest that for costly signals to work effectively, they need to be paired with a system of social norms embedded within supernatural cosmic orders. |
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