Belief in karma is associated with perceived (but not actual) trustworthiness

Abstract

Believers of karma believe in ethical causation where good and bad outcomes can be traced to past moral and immoral acts. Karmic belief may have important interpersonal consequences. We investigated whether American Christians expect more trustworthiness from (and are more likely to trust) interaction partners who believe in karma. We conducted an incentivized study of the trust game where interaction partners had different beliefs in karma and God. Participants expected more trustworthiness from (and were more likely to trust) karma believers. Expectations did not match actual behavior: karmic belief was not associated with actual trustworthiness. These findings suggest that people may use others’ karmic belief as a cue to predict their trustworthiness but would err when doing so.

How karmic beliefs and beliefs in a just world interact to trigger consumer’s pro-environmental consumption behavior: does gender matter?

“…Karmic can, therefore, interact with other supernatural and religious beliefs (i.e. BJW) to activate individuals’ prosocial and/or proecological acts (Ong et al , 2023). White et al (2019b) contend that at a psychological analysis degree, it is reasonable to suggest a combination of karmic beliefs with other religious beliefs (i.e.…”

“…Consequently, an augmentation in a harmonized level of karmic beliefs and BJW is expected to enhance the extent of proenvironmental consumption proportionally. Nevertheless, it is essential to acknowledge that individuals may not always exhibit a high congruence between their karmic beliefs and BJW (Taylor et al , 2022), which depends on their knowledge, ability and even cultural context (Ong et al , 2023). For example, specific individuals may firmly adhere to karmic beliefs while having low BJW, or vice versa.…”

“I do believe in karma”: understanding consumers' pro-environmental consumption with an integrated framework of theory of planned behavior, norm activation model and self-determination theory

“…In the second phase, they expect to receive karmic rewards as a consequence of their previous good deeds (Mo et al, 2022). Previous research has primarily Consumers' proenvironmental consumption focused on investigating the motivational aspects of karmic reasoning, revealing that individuals are more inclined to participate in pro-social behaviors and display acts of kindness in the present, with the hope of receiving future rewards as a consequence of accumulating positive karma (Ong et al, 2022;Wiese, 2023). However, the examination of KB from a justice perspective has not been extensively explored in the literature (Mo et al, 2022).…”

“…, 2022). Previous research has primarily focused on investigating the motivational aspects of karmic reasoning, revealing that individuals are more inclined to participate in pro-social behaviors and display acts of kindness in the present, with the hope of receiving future rewards as a consequence of accumulating positive karma (Ong et al. , 2022; Wiese, 2023).…”

Happy thoughts: The role of communion in accepting and sharing (mis)beliefs

“…When sharing happy beliefs, whether in relation to wishing to appear communal, or merely nice in a particular setting, there might be a temptation to cheat: why would not everyone use communication to persuade others that they are high in communion (Ong et al, 2022)? First, being perceived as high in communion is not always positive, as it can run counter to one's goal of being perceived as agentic and, more specifically, dominant (Holoien & Fiske, 2013; Oliveira et al, 2019; Tracy & Beall, 2011).…”