{"id":53,"date":"2013-03-03T20:22:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-03T19:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2013\/03\/in-burkino-faso-traditional-beliefs-encourage-trust-and-fair-play-in-the-small-business-community.html"},"modified":"2014-11-12T02:48:55","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T01:48:55","slug":"in-burkino-faso-traditional-beliefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/epiphenom\/2013\/03\/in-burkino-faso-traditional-beliefs.html","title":{"rendered":"In Burkino Faso, traditional beliefs encourage trust and fair-play in the small-business community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Village life in sub-Saharan Africa is governed by a moral code enforced by customs, regulations, and taboos. Because communities are close-knit, large discrepancies in wealth are frowned upon, and the accumulation of private wealth is regarded as anti-social.<\/p>\n

Locals believe that spirits and ancestors enforce this moral code, and that transgressors will be punished by misfortune, business failure, and severe illnesses or accidents. But does this actually have any effect on behaviour?<\/p>\n

Myriam Hadnes and Heiner Schumacher, at the University of Frankfurt, recruited a bunch of \u2018micro-entrepreneurs\u2019 from the villages around Ouagadougou and asked them to play an economic transaction game, to see how generous and trusting they were towards others.<\/p>\n

The game has two players \u2013 both anonymous, both given 1000 West African Francs (worth just over 2 dollars \u2013 about a day\u2019s pay at minimum wage levels). Player A could either keep his money (in which case both went home with their 1,000 Fcfa) or give it all to Player B. <\/p>\n

If Player A chose to send the money, then it was doubled so that Player B now had 3000 Fcfa. Player B could then send back as much as he or she wanted. After that, they went home.<\/p>\n

Before playing the game, the players were interviewed about their businesses. For half the participants, the interviewers asked about jealousy and traditional rules about conduct, and deliberately steered the conversation towards supernatural topics. For the other half, they focussed on practical issues of business \u2013 and deliberately avoided anything related to supernatural topics.<\/p>\n

They found that, in the group that avoided supernatural topics, 69% of \u2018Player A\u2019 participants handed their 1,000 Fcfa to Player B. In the group that did discuss the traditional beliefs, that figure rose to 87%. That suggests that these players were more trusting that Player B would play fair.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Then they looked at what Player B gave back in return, and found that they were significantly more likely to give higher amounts (see graphic). In fact, while the group that did not discuss the supernatural returned on average 1,261 Fcfa (or 42 percent), those primed with traditional beliefs returned 1,471 Fcfa (or 49 percent).<\/p>\n

That suggests that, in both groups, the A players\u2019 trust was well placed \u2013 but that this was particularly so in the group primed with tradition. That difference was statistically significant, even after adjusting for other differences between the groups.<\/p>\n

The authors point out that this is unlikely to be simply due to increased trust (because they found that the A players didn\u2019t actually expect more in return, and also that doesn\u2019t explain why the B players were more generous). Nor was it because they were less risk-averse (again, that can\u2019t explain the B-players response).<\/p>\n

Instead, they say that:<\/p>\n

\u2026 our results suggest another factor as the driving force of both the A- and B-players\u2019 behavior.<\/p>\n

In the postexperimental questionnaire, one-third of all participants explicitly cited illness, accidents, or death as direct consequence of dishonest behavior. In the interviews of the treatment group, participants shared their experiences with supernatural forces intervening into worldly life to punish those who did not respect the ancestors\u2019 will. Almost half of the participants stated having witnessed a case of supernatural punishment aftermisbehavior. <\/p>\n

Also, we learned that participants trust witch doctors to influence their business success, and fear the neighbors\u2019 and competitors\u2019 envy if they are successful without caring for their kith and kin. <\/p>\n

In line with these observations, we argue that A- and B-players\u2019 behavior was driven by the combination of prevailing sharing norms and the belief in supernatural punishment whenever these norms are violated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because of the design of this study, we can\u2019t tease out whether this was a direct effect of supernatural fears or not. The interviews of the A players covered both social norms and supernatural topics (they couldn\u2019t use the more usual priming technique of asking the participants to do a word game, because most were illiterate), so either or both could be affecting the result.<\/p>\n

But as the first evidence that reminders of traditional moral beliefs, coupled with supernatural threats, can result in behaviour that\u2019s significantly more pro-social! <\/p>\n

\n

\"ResearchBlogging.org\"<\/a><\/span>
Hadnes, M., & Schumacher, H. (2012). The Gods Are Watching: An Experimental Study of Religion and Traditional Belief in Burkina Faso Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 51<\/span> (4), 689-704 DOI: 10.1111\/j.1468-5906.2012.01676.x<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Creative<\/a><\/span> This article by Tom Rees<\/b> was first published on Epiphenom<\/a>. It is licensed under Creative Commons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Village life in sub-Saharan Africa is governed by a moral code enforced by customs, regulations, and taboos. Because communities are close-knit, large discrepancies in wealth are frowned upon, and the accumulation of private wealth is regarded as anti-social. Locals believe that spirits and ancestors enforce this moral code, and that transgressors will be punished by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2091,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIn Burkino Faso, traditional beliefs encourage trust and fair-play in the small-business community<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Village life in sub-Saharan Africa is governed by a moral code enforced by customs, regulations, and taboos. 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