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Does Goal-Demotion Enhance Cooperation?

In: Journal of Cognition and Culture
Authors:
Panagiotis Mitkidis * Corresponding author, e-mail: mitkidispan@gmail.com
Interacting Minds Center, Department of Culture and Society University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark Center for Advanced Hindsight Social Science Research Institute, Duke University Durham, NC 27705 USA Interdisciplinary Center for Organizational Architecture, University of Aarhus Aarhus Denmark

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Pierre Lienard Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada Las Vegas, NV USA

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Kristoffer L. Nielbo Interacting Minds Center, Department of Culture and Society, University of Aarhus Aarhus Denmark Department for Culture and Society, University of Aarhus Aarhus Denmark Religion, Cognition, and Culture Research Unit, University of Aarhus Aarhus Denmark MindLab, Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

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Jesper Sørensen Interacting Minds Center, Department of Culture and Society, University of Aarhus Aarhus Denmark Department for Culture and Society, University of Aarhus Aarhus Denmark Religion, Cognition, and Culture Research Unit, University of Aarhus Aarhus Denmark MindLab, Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

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Social scientists have long assumed that religion – and more specifically religious rituals – promotes cooperation. It has also been claimed that ritual plays an essential role in enhancing prosociality and cooperation. In this study, using a controlled laboratory experiment, we investigate if a conspicuous and recurrent feature of collective ritualized behaviour, goal-demotion, promotes lasting cooperation. We report that goal-directed collective behaviour is more efficient than goal-demoted behaviour for motivating participants to engage in ulterior cooperation. Plausible interpretations of the data and of the mechanisms involved are discussed.

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