Abstract
On a large sample of 2288 Han Chinese undergraduates, we investigated how religion and DRD4 are related to human altruistic giving behavior as measured with the Andreoni-Miller Dictator Game. This game enables us to clearly specify (non-)selfishness, efficiency, and fairness motives for sharing. Participants were further classified into religious categories (Christian, Buddhist-Tao, and No Religion) based on self-reports, and genotyped for the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene exon III VNTR. Our analysis revealed a significant interaction between religion and DRD4 correlated with giving behavior solely among males: Whereas no significant association between religion and sharing decisions was observed in the majority 4R/4R genotype group, a significant difference in giving behavior between Christian and non-Christian males was seen in the non-4R/4R group, with Christian men being overall more altruistic (less selfish and fairer) than non-Christian men. These results support the vantage sensitivity hypothesis regarding DRD4 that the non-4R/4R “susceptibility” genotype is more responsive to a positive environment provided by some religions.
Highlights
Consistent with the vast findings in the literature that women tend to be more religious than men (e.g., De Vaus and McAllister, 1987), using two sided t-tests we find that significantly more males (49.2%) than females (42.9%) are non-religious (t = 2.962, p = 0.003), while more females (30.7%) than males (26.9%) are Christians (t = −1.978, p = 0.048); the difference is not significant for Buddhists or Taoists (B-T) (t = −1.277, p = 0.202) or Other religions (t = −0.347, p = 0.729)
We examined the distribution of religious affiliations stratified by the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) exon III variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) genotypes
Sasaki et al (2013) reported an interaction between DRD4 and religion to impact prosocial behavior measured with hypothetical volunteering questions, where they found that subjects with 2R or 7R alleles are more responsive to the religion prime than subjects without these alleles
Summary
Contrary to the depiction of the Homo economicus as purely selfish according to traditional economic theory, people are often altruistic and willing to help strangers at great cost, sacrificing even their own life. Such altruistic behaviors are usually studied in experimental economics using dictator games (Forsythe et al, 1994). A unique feature of H. sapiens is that many skills essential for individual and group survival can be passed from one generation to the Such cultural evolution is apparently an important mechanism that helps explain group selection (Bell et al, 2009).
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