23/07/19
Speaker: Cinzia Calluso, Department of Business and Management, LUISS Guido Carli University
The preference for smaller-sooner rewards over larger-delayed ones (temporal discounting, TD) has been suggested to be influenced by religiosity, through its role in enhancing self-control. Here we investigate this issue in Muslims, Catholics and atheists, by measuring implicit religiosity (implicit association test, IAT) and the cognitive dynamics underlying TD (using mouse tracking). Results reveal that Muslims discount less than Catholics and atheists, and that Catholics discount rewards more than atheists; these results are also shaped by implicit religiosity (IAT). Mouse tracking analyses reveal that Muslims show higher cognitive conflict compared to the other two groups, which arises only in later stages of processing. This indicates that farsighted behaviour in Muslims requires the recruitment of self-control in order to overcome the temptation of immediate rewards. Our findings suggest that the highly demanding religious precepts enforced in (most) Islamic communities may help strengthen self-control abilities.
Speaker: Quentin Moreau & Gabriele Fusco
Title: LM new format – “Methods in Social Neuroscience” – 1st session: EEG, TACS