The Positive Effect of the Mere Presence of a Religious Symbol on Compliance With an Organ Donation Request

Abstract

Identifying low-cost, effective methods to influence behavior is of keen interest to social marketers and others striving to bring about social change. Research on material primes (an object or a word present in the individual’s environment) has received little interest from scientists. This field study conducted in France examined whether the presence of a religious symbol could influence the number of individuals who accepted an organ donation card. The study, conducted with 200 males and 200 females, examined the effect of the presence versus the absence of a Christian cross worn by a solicitor on participant’s compliance to an organ donation request. The findings showed that participants exposed to a Christian cross worn by a solicitor complied more favorably with the request addressed by the solicitor. This effect was found among both male and female participants. The presence of the Christian cross could have acted as a prime that led in turn to the activation of further concepts associated with religion such as compassion, support or solidarity, which in turn led participants to accept the organ donation solicitation more favorably.

Religious symbolism in the digital realm: A social advertising approach to motivate bystanders to aid victims of cyberbullying

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Religion in Domestic Violence Prevention PSAs: The Role of Religiosity in Motivating Christian Bystanders to Intervene

“…According to symbolic interactionism (Blumer ), symbols help define one's reality and are learned and shared through social interactions. As an example, Guéguen, Bougeard‐Delfosse, and Jacob () found that the mere presence or absence of a cross on a volunteer asking people to consider organ donation led to a statistically significant increase in agreement when the cross was worn. Similarly, a relevant (vs. irrelevant) connection between the word ‘‘Christian” and a product (e.g., book store vs. beer) can lead to favorable ad attitudes and purchase intentions (Henley et al.…”

Organ donation in India—A social marketing perspective

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