Highly religious not as compassionate as non-believers, says study

[Fearless]

According to a new University of California-Berkeley study, the highly religious are less motivated to show generosity than are non-believers. The findings are being published in the online issue of “Social Psychological and Personality Science.”

The results seem to conflict with a 2008 University of British Columbia study asserting that the faithful are “more helpful, honest and generous.”

The study conducted three experiments, with social scientists finding that compassion “consistently drove less religious people to be more generous. For highly religious people, however, compassion was largely unrelated to how generous they were.” Compassion, as defined in the study, is the emotion felt when people recognize another’s suffering and are thus motivated to help.

“Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not,” said UC Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer, a co-author of the study. “The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns.”

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/182507/highly-religious-not-as-compassionate-as-non-believers-says-study/

[Viva_Daddy]

1. "I am shocked...shocked I say...to hear that there is gambling going on...."

[sakabatou]

4. "Your winnings, sir."

[Ron Obvious]

2. _highly_ religious

I think the key here is highly religious people. In other words, those utterly convinced of their own righteousness.

Put that way, this result doesn't surprise me.

[SkipWankman]

3. not surprised

From the "highly religious" people I've been exposed to, they are quick to turn their back on the "non-believers"
Even their own family members.