Religion and social behavior – priming study

Last registered on January 22, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Religion and social behavior – priming study
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017726
Initial registration date
January 19, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
January 22, 2026, 1:49 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Kenya
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Julie Chytilova
Affiliation
Charles University and CERGE-EI
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Michal Bauer
PI Affiliation
CERGE-EI and Charles University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Winnie Njoroge
PI Affiliation
CERGE-EI
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-01-20
End date
2026-03-31
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
economics of religion, social preferences
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We plan to implement an online survey among respondents in Kenya. The survey builds on the findings from a previous data collection in which we find strong positive relationship between religious leaders’ and congregants’ preferences (overall level of pro-sociality and differential pro-sociality and behavior towards people with different religious affiliations) and substantial heterogeneity in pro-sociality and religious parochialism across individual church communities. In the new survey, we will elicit attitudes and controlled measures of social behavior to other people and randomize whether the respondents provide their answers to the main questions of our interest (allocation task, donation task, attitudes) before or after answering a series of questions focusing on their religious leader and content of sermons in their church. This prime is designed to activate or intensify a set of thoughts about respondents’ religious leaders and their attitudes towards people with different religious affiliation.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bauer, Michal, Julie Chytilova and Winnie Njoroge. 2026. "Religion and social behavior – priming study." AEA RCT Registry. January 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17726-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Not available at this moment.
Intervention (Hidden)
First, respondents will be randomly assigned to the Prime or to the Control condition. In the Prime condition, they will answer a series of questions focusing on their religious leader and content of sermons in their church at the beginning of the survey, while in the Control condition, they will answer these questions at the end of the survey. Second, we will experimentally manipulate the religious affiliation of recipients in a money allocation task, of NGOs in a donation task, and of people described in survey questions measuring attitudes. We aim to compare the level of pro-sociality as well as differences in behavior and attitudes to people with different religious affiliations (Christian, Muslim, non-religious) before and after the prime.
Intervention Start Date
2026-01-20
Intervention End Date
2026-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
(i) Index of pro-sociality (average allocation across money allocation and donations tasks) (ii) allocations in a money allocation task to recipients with different religious affiliation (Christian, Muslim, non-religious), (iii) donations to an NGO (Christian, Muslim), (iv) answers in a set of questions aiming to measure attitudes to people with different religious affiliation (Christian, Muslim, non-religious).
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Not available at this moment.
Experimental Design Details
The experiment will be implemented online. We will recruit respondents from the sample of people who participated in a previous study in Kenya (unrelated to this study, Njoroge 2025) who, when answering the previous survey, indicated that would like to be approached with an offer to participate in another survey in the future. We will randomize whether the respondents provide their answers to the main questions of our interest before or after answering a series of questions focusing on religion and content of sermons in their church. This prime is designed to activate or intensify a set of thoughts about respondents’ religious leaders and their attitudes towards people with different religious affiliation. In the money allocation task, participants will make a decision affecting a Christian, a Muslim or a non-religious recipient (within-subject design). In another task, they will decide about donation to a Christian and a Muslim NGO (within-subject design). In a set of survey question, they will provide answers about their attitudes to Christians, Muslims and non-religious people (within-subject design). The tasks/questions will be presented in a random order.
Randomization Method
The experimental conditions will be implemented between-subject (Prime vs. Control condition) and within-subject (money allocation task, donation decisions, survey questions on attitudes), and randomized in Qualtrics.
Randomization Unit
The experimental conditions will be implemented between-subject at the individual level (Prime vs. Control condition) and within-subject (money allocation task, donation decisions, survey questions).
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Approximately 1,000 individuals (depending on the response rate), adult Kenyans.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 1,000 individuals (depending on the response rate), adult Kenyans.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Half of the total sample (approximately 500) will participate in the Prime condition and half (approximately 500) in the Control condition. All respondents (approximately 1,000) will make decision in all three money allocation tasks, two donation tasks and a set of questions on attitudes.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Commission for Ethics in Research of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University
IRB Approval Date
2025-08-25
IRB Approval Number
221
IRB Name
National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI)
IRB Approval Date
2025-09-10
IRB Approval Number
NACOSTI/P/25/4179256
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials