"WEIRD" societies still value (even needless) self-control and self-sacrifice.

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Moral Disciplining Theory (MDT) posits links between self-control, cooperation, and the societal valuation of sacrifice.
• Existing research supports the association between self-control and cooperation, as well as the general value placed on costly prosocial behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the empirical support for various tenets of Moral Disciplining Theory (MDT).
• To investigate the relationship between religiosity and cooperation within the framework of MDT.
• To examine the perceived value of sacrifice and costly prosocial behaviors in "western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic" (WEIRD) societies.

Main Methods:

• Review and synthesis of existing empirical evidence relevant to MDT.
• Comparative analysis of findings across different societal contexts, including WEIRD societies.
• Assessment of the consistency between theoretical predictions and observed data.

Main Results:

• Evidence strongly supports the link between self-control and cooperation.
• Societies generally value sacrifice and costly prosocial behaviors, consistent with MDT.
• The association between religion/religiosity and cooperation is not consistently supported by existing evidence.
• The notion that sacrifice is devalued in WEIRD societies is inconsistent with current data.

Conclusions:

• While some core aspects of Moral Disciplining Theory (MDT) are empirically validated, others require revision.
• The role of religion in fostering cooperation needs further investigation.
• The assumption that modern WEIRD societies devalue costly prosociality is not supported by evidence.