Nudges and the Malleability of Identity: Evidence from Religiosity

Religious prosocial message (treatment A).
Participants read a very brief text (≈90–120 words) promoting prosocial behavior using religious language (e.g., references to kindness/charity and a general biblical principle such as treating others well). The message is neutral in tone (non-coercive, non-evaluative), does not ask participants to change beliefs, and contains no doctrinal content beyond the framing.

Scientific prosocial message (treatment B).
Participants read a closely matched text (≈90–120 words) promoting the same prosocial theme but using scientific/psychology language (e.g., research suggests helping others benefits well-being and communities). Length, reading level, and structure are matched to the religious message; only the framing differs.

Control (no message).
Participants proceed directly to the questionnaires with no message exposure.

Design overview.
Single-session, online, between-subjects randomized controlled trial (3 arms, 1:1:1). Participants view exactly one short text (“nudge”) at the very start of the survey and then complete outcome questions. The three arms differ only in framing language (religious vs. scientific vs. no message). There is no deception. English only.

Arms.

A. Religious prosocial framing (Treatment A).
A 6-sentence text (~100–120 words) encouraging prosocial behavior in religious language. Neutral/non-coercive; references a general scriptural principle (e.g., love/charity/compassion). No doctrinal claims, no call to convert.

B. Scientific prosocial framing (Treatment B).
A 6-sentence text (~100–120 words) encouraging the same prosocial behavior in scientific/psychology language (e.g., “studies find…”, “evidence suggests…”). Matched to Treatment A in length, structure, and readability; differs only in framing terms.

C. Control (No message).
Participants proceed directly to the questionnaire with no text displayed.

2024-06-30

2025-09-30

Religiosity Outcomes

Ideally, how often would you like to pray? (Single choice)

Never / almost never

Rarely

Once a year

Only on special religious holidays

Only when attending religious services

Several times a week

Once a day

Several times a day

18. How important is God in your life?
Response format: 0–10 scale (0 = Not at all important, 10 = Very important)

B.1 More Religiosity Questions

19. Which of the following, if any, do you believe in? (Select Yes or No for each option.)

God — Yes / No

Afterlife — Yes / No

Hell — Yes / No

Heaven — Yes / No

20. Please tell us whether you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statements (choose the one that best represents you):

Whenever science and religion conflict, religion is always right. — Strongly agree / Agree / Disagree / Strongly disagree

The only acceptable religion is my religion. — Strongly agree / Agree / Disagree / Strongly disagree

21. Apart from weddings and funerals, how often do you attend church nowadays? (Single choice)

Never / almost never

Rarely

Once a year

Only on special religious holidays

Once a month

Once a week

More than once a week

22. For each of the following actions, indicate whether you think it is never justified, always justified, or somewhere in between.
Response format for each item: 0–10 scale (0 = Never justified, 10 = Always justified)

Abortion

Premarital sex

Homosexuality

23. It is difficult for me to forgive others for their mistakes.
Response format: 0–10 scale (0 = Not at all difficult, 10 = Very difficult)

24. Were you vaccinated against COVID–19?

Yes

No

25. Which political ideology best represents you? (Single choice)

Left

Centre-left

Centre

Centre-right

Right

No ideology / not interested in politics

26. What is your attitude toward immigrants in our country? (Single choice)

Very positive

Positive

Neutral

Negative

Very negative

27. What is your position on legalizing same-sex marriage? (Single choice)

Strongly support

Somewhat support

Neutral

Somewhat oppose

Strongly oppose

28. How willing are you to take revenge if you are treated very unfairly?
Response format: 0–10 scale (0 = Not at all willing, 10 = Very willing)

29. How willing are you to forgive an unlawful act?
Response format: 0–10 scale (0 = Not at all willing, 10 = Very willing)

30. How willing are you to punish a person for unfair behavior?
Response format for each item: 0–10 scale (0 = Not at all willing, 10 = Very willing)

Toward you

Toward someone else

Block 3: Preferences

31. In your choices, how much do you compare yourself to others?
Response format: 0–10 scale (0 = Not at all, 10 = Very much)

32. Compared with others, how willing are you to sacrifice today to benefit in the future?
Response format: 0–10 scale (0 = Not at all willing, 10 = Very willing)

Religiosity Outcomes

Design: Parallel-arm, between-subjects randomized controlled trial conducted online. Participants are randomly assigned (1:1:1) to one of three arms at the start of the survey: (A) a brief prosocial message framed in religious language; (B) a closely matched prosocial message framed in scientific/psychology language; or (C) no message (control). Messages are similar in length and readability; only the framing differs. No deception is used.

Eligibility & setting: Adults (18+) completing a single session on a standard survey platform. Participation is anonymous and voluntary; respondents may skip some questions.

Timing & flow: After consent, the assigned message (or no message) is shown on its own screen. Immediately afterward, participants complete the outcome measures.

Primary outcome (confirmatory): Self-reported religiosity (0–10 scale; 0 = not at all religious, 10 = very religious), measured immediately after the intervention.

Secondary/exploratory outcomes (public summary): A small set of related attitudes/behaviors (e.g., importance of God, prayer desire frequency, simple belief items).

Randomization & masking: Assignment is automated by the survey platform’s randomizer. Participants are unaware of the existence/content of alternative messages.

Analysis (high-level): Intent-to-treat comparisons of group means using two-sided tests at α = 0.05. The primary confirmatory contrast is Scientific vs. Control; Religious vs. Control is secondary. Exploratory outcomes will be analyzed with appropriate multiple-comparison safeguards.

Exposure/quality controls (summary): Minimum on-screen time for the message and a simple attention check are used to encourage exposure and data quality. Any exclusion criteria are prespecified elsewhere in the preregistration.

randomization done by qualtrics

individual

No

around 1300 individuals

less than 1500 individuals

around 500 per group