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dc.creatorGu, Yuqi
dc.creatorMao, Connie X.
dc.creatorJohnson, Tim
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-03T20:46:10Z
dc.date.available2024-01-03T20:46:10Z
dc.date.issued2022-03-28
dc.identifier.citationGu, Y., Mao, C.X. & Johnson, T. Evidence supporting a cultural evolutionary theory of prosocial religions in contemporary workplace safety data. Sci Rep 12, 5239 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09322-6
dc.identifier.issn2045-2322
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/9458
dc.description.abstractA prominent line of cultural evolutionary theory hypothesizes that religiously inspired prosocial behavior enhances the fecundity of pious groups, causing them to outcompete non-religious communities and spread their prosocial values. We present evidence concerning contemporary workplace safety, in the United States, that unexpectedly tested implications of this cultural evolutionary hypothesis. Avoiding workplace injury requires cooperation and injury influences fitness, thus cultural evolutionary theory would anticipate that religious communities should exhibit fewer workplace injuries. Indeed, we find that the proportion of a community adhering to a religion correlates negatively with rates of workplace injury in its private-sector establishments. This correlation emerges primarily when secular workplace safety authorities are not prominent, thus echoing evidence that religiously inspired prosocial behavior mainly occurs absent “earthly” sanctioning authorities. Furthermore, the percent of religiously affiliated individuals in a community correlates with safety investments, suggesting that workplace injury reductions in religious communities result from individually costly, group-benefitting cooperation.
dc.format.extent13 pages
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofFaculty/ Researcher Works
dc.relation.haspartScientific Reports, Vol. 12
dc.relation.isreferencedbyNature Research
dc.rightsAttribution CC BY
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectCultural evolution
dc.subjectSocial evolution
dc.titleEvidence supporting a cultural evolutionary theory of prosocial religions in contemporary workplace safety data
dc.typeText
dc.type.genreJournal article
dc.description.departmentFinance
dc.relation.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09322-6
dc.ada.noteFor Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation, including help with reading this content, please contact scholarshare@temple.edu
dc.description.schoolcollegeFox School of Business
dc.temple.creatorMao, Connie X.
refterms.dateFOA2024-01-03T20:46:10Z


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