| Sacred values, this is, values people refuse to trade off for material gain, have been shown to have counterintuitive effects on decision-making. When reasoning about their sacred values, people seem to use rule-based reasoning concerned with moral duties and sacred commitments. Recent findings have implicated sacred values in violent group conflicts (Israeli-Palestinian, Kurdish-Turkish, Hindu-Muslim, Iranian-US). They paint a picture of actors driven by moral duty to values who commit extreme acts, which defy cost-benefit considerations. Despite the apparent importance of understanding sacred values, we know little about how people come to hold them. Although the term "sacred values" refers to the sacred, the role of sacredness has not been examined empirically. This dissertation presents correlative and experimental evidence (using cognitive priming methods) linking religious ritual and the proclivity for sacred values. Four studies with US samples shows that religious ritual is associated with peoples' reluctance to tradeoff their values. Specifically, prayer increases the experience of sacredness, which in turn increases proclivity for sacred values. |
