Abstract Moralizing religions encourage people to anticipate supernatural punishments for violating moral norms, even in anonymous interactions. This is thought to be one way large-scale societies have solved cooperative dilemmas. Previous research has overwhelmingly focused on the effects of moralizing gods, and has yet to thoroughly examine other religious moralizing systems, such as karma, to which more than a billion people subscribe worldwide. In two pre-registered studies conducted with Chinese Singaporeans, we compared the moralizing effects of karma and afterlife beliefs of Buddhists, Taoists, Christians, and the non-religious. In Study 1 (N = 582), we found that Buddhists and Taoists (karmic religions) judge individual actions as having greater consequences in this life and the next, compared to Christians. Pointing to the specific role of karma beliefs in these judgements, these effects were replicated in comparisons of participants from the non-karmic religions/groups (Christian and non-religious) who did or did not endorse karma belief. Study 2 (N = 830) exploited religious syncretism in this population by reminding participants about either moral afterlife beliefs (reincarnation or heaven/hell), ancestor veneration beliefs, or neither, before assessing norms of generosity in a series of hypothetical dictator games. When reminded of their ancestor veneration beliefs, Buddhists and Taoists (but not Christians) endorsed parochial prosocial norms, expressing willingness to give more to their family and religious group than did those in the control condition. Moral afterlife beliefs increased generosity to strangers for all groups. Taken together, these results provide evidence that different religious beliefs can foster and maintain different prosocial and cooperative norms.

中文翻译：

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赏善罚恶：业力和来世信仰在塑造道德规范中的作用

摘要 道德化宗教鼓励人们期待违反道德规范的超自然惩罚，即使在匿名互动中也是如此。这被认为是大型社会解决合作困境的一种方式。以前的研究主要集中在道德化神的影响上，尚未彻底检查其他宗教道德化系统，例如全球超过 10 亿人订阅的业力。在对新加坡华人进行的两项预先注册的研究中，我们比较了佛教徒、道教徒、基督教徒和非宗教人士的业力和来世信仰的道德化影响。在研究 1 (N = 582) 中，我们发现与基督徒相比，佛教徒和道教徒（业力宗教）认为个人行为对今生和来世的影响更大。指出业力信仰在这些判断中的具体作用，这些影响在来自非业力宗教/团体（基督教和非宗教）的参与者的比较中得到复制，这些参与者支持或不支持业力信仰。研究 2 (N = 830) 在评估一系列假设的独裁者游戏中的慷慨规范之前，通过提醒参与者关于道德来世信仰（轮回或天堂/地狱）、祖先崇拜信仰或两者都不是，利用了这一人群中的宗教融合。当想起他们的祖先崇拜信仰时，佛教徒和道教徒（但不是基督教徒）赞同狭隘的亲社会规范，表示愿意为家庭和宗教团体提供比控制条件下更多的人。道德来世信仰增加了所有群体对陌生人的慷慨。综合起来，