Publications

Celniker, J.B. Gregory, A., Koo, H., Piff, P.K., Ditto, P.H., & Shariff, A.F. (in press).

The Moralization of Effort.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Koo, H., Piff, P.K., & Shariff, A.F. (in press).

If I could do it, so can they: among the rich, those with humbler origins are less sensitive to the difficulties of the poor.

Social and Personality Psychological Science.

Awad, E., Bago, B., Bonnefon, J.F., Christakis, N. & Sharff, A. (2022).

Polarized Citizen Preferences for the Ethical Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in 20 Countries.

Medical Decision Making Policy and Practice.

Mercier, B., Celniker, J. B., & Shariff, A. F. (2022).

Overestimating Reported Prejudice Causes Democrats to Believe Disadvantaged Groups Are Less Electable

Political Psychology.

Rathje, S., Shariff, A., & Schnall, S. (2022).

Ideology trumps self-interest: continued support for a political leader despite disappointing tax returns

Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties.

Shariff, A., Bonnefon, J.F. & Rahwan, I. (2021).

How safe is safe enough? Psychological mechanisms underlying extreme safety demands for self-driving cars

Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.

 Clark, C. J., Winegard, B. M., & Shariff, A.F. (2021).

Motivated free will beliefs: The theory, new (preregistered) studies, and three meta-analyses.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Wiwad, D., Mercier, B., Piff, P.K., Shariff, A. & Aknin, L.B. (2021).

Recognizing the Impact of Covid-19 on the Poor Alters Attitudes Towards Poverty and Inequality

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Syropoulos, S., Watkins, H., Shariff, A.F., Hodges, S.D., Markowitz, E. (2021).

The Role of Gratitude in Motivating Intergenerational Environmental Stewardship

Journal of Environmental Psychology.

Beheim, B., Atkinson, Q., Bulbulia, J. A., Gervais, W. M., Gray, R., Henrich, J., Lang, M. Monroe, M.W., Muthukrishna, M., Norenzayan, A., Purzycki, B.G., Shariff, A., Slingerland, E., Spicer, R. & Willard, A. (2021).

Matters Arising: Treatment of missing data determines conclusions regarding moralizing gods: Comment on Whitehouse et al. 2019

Nature.

Shariff, A., Green, J. & Jettinghoff, W. (2020).

The Privacy Mismatch: Evolved Intuitions in a Digital World

Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Clark, C. J., Winegard, B.M. & Shariff, A. (2020).

Motivated free will belief: The theory, new (preregistered) studies, and three meta-analyses

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Van Bavel, J. J., Baicker, K., Boggio, P. S., Capraro, V., Cichocka, A., Cikara, M., Crockett, M. J., Crum, A. J., Douglas, K. M., Druckman, J. N. Drury, J., Dube, O., Ellemers, N., Finkel, E. J., Fowler, J. H., Gelfand, M., Han, S., Haslam, S. A., Jetten, J., Kitayama, S., Mobbs, D., Napper, L. E., Packer, D. J., Pennycook, G., Peters, E., Petty, R. E., Rand, D. G., Reicher, S. D., Schnall, S., Shariff, A., Skitka, L. J., Smith, S. S., Sunstein, C. R., Tabri, N., Tucker, J. A., van der Linden, S., Van Lange, P. A. M., Weeden, K. A., Wohl, M. J. A., Zaki, J., Zion, S. & Willer, R. (2020).

Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response

Nature Human Behavior.

Everett, J. A., Clark, C. J., Meindl, P., Luguri, J., Earp, B. D., Ditto, P., Graham, J. & Shariff, A. (2020).

Political differences in free will belief are linked to differences in moralization

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Piff, P.K., Wiwad, D. Robinson, A., Aknin, L.B., Mercier, B. & Shariff, A (2020).

Shifting Attributions for Poverty Motivates Opposition to Inequality and Enhances Egalitarianism

Nature Human Behavior.

Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Kim, R., Schultz, J. Henrich, J., Shariff, A.F. Bonnefon, J.F. & Rahwan, I. (2020).

Reply to: Life and death decisions of autonomous vehicles

Nature.

Awad, E., Levine, S., Kleiman-Weiner, M., Dsouza, S., Tenenbaum, J.B., Shariff, A.F. Bonnefon, J.F. & Rahwan, I. (2020).

Blaming humans for shared responsibility in automated vehicle accidents

Nature Human Behavior.

Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Shariff, A.F., Rahwan, I. & Bonnefon, J.F. (2020).

Universals and variations in moral decisions made in 42 countries by 70,000 participants

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Wiwad, D., Mercier, B., Maraun, M. D., Robinson, A. R., Piff, P. K., Aknin, L. B., & Shariff, A. F. (2019).

The Support for Economic Inequality Scale: Development and adjudication

PLoS one.

Rahwan, I., Cebrian, M., Obradovich, N., Bongard, J., Bonnefon, J.F., Breazeal, C., Crandall, J.W., Christakis, N.A. Couzin, I.A., Jackson, M.O., Jennings, N.R., Kamar, E., Kloumann, I.E., Larochelle, H., Lazer, D., McElreath, R., Mislove, A., Parkes, D.C., Pentland, A., Roberts, E., Shariff, A.F., Tenenbaum, J.B., & Wellman, M. (2019).

Machine Behavior

Nature.

 White, C.J.M., Kelly, J.M., Shariff, A.F., Norenzayan, A. (2019).

Supernatural norm enforcement: Thinking about Karma and God reduces selfishness among believers

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

 Bonnefon, J.F., Shariff, A.F., Rahwan, I. (2019).

The trolley, the bull bar, and why engineers should care about the ethics of autonomous cars

Proceedings of the IEEE.

 Mercier, B., Norris, A., Shariff, A.F. (2018).

Muslim mass shooters are perceived as less mentally ill and more motivated by religion

Psychology of Violence.

Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Kim, R., Schultz, J. Henrich, J., Shariff, A.F. Bonnefon, J.F. & Rahwan, I. (2018).

The Moral Machine Experiment

Nature.

Mercier, B.M., Kramer, S.R., & Shariff, A.F. (2018)

The Belief in God: Why People Believe and Why They Don’t

Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Crandall, J.W., Oudah, M., Ishowo-Oloko, Abdallah, S., Bonnefon, J.F., Cebrian, M. Shariff, A.F., Goodrich, M.A. & Rahwan, I. (2018)

Cooperating with machines

Nature Communications.

Shariff, A.F., Rahwan, I., & Bonnefon, J.F (2017)

Psychological roadblocks to the adoption of self-driving cars

Nature Human Behavior.

Christian, C.B., & Shariff, A.F. (2017)

Asymmetry and empathy: Higher asymmetry is associated with lower levels of mentalizing

Early Human Development.

Shariff, A.F. (2017)

Are Wrathful Gods the Killer App of Religion? Two Nits to Pick with Johnson’s God is Watching You

Religion, Brain & Behavior.

 Willard, A.K. Shariff, A.F., & Norenzayan, A. (2016)

Religious Priming as a research tool for studying religion: Evidentiary Value, Current Issues, and Future Directions

Current Opinion in Psychology.

 DeBono, A.E., Shariff, A.F., Poole, S. and Muraven, M. (2016)

Forgive Us Our Trespasses:
Priming a Forgiving (But Not a Punishing) God Increases Unethical Behavior

Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.

Shariff, A.F., Willard, A.K., Murthukrishna, M., Kramer, S.R., & Henrich, J. (2016)

What is the association between religious affiliation and children’s altruism?

Current Biology.

Bonnefon, J.F, Shariff, A.F., & Rahwan, I. (2016)

The Social Dilemma of Autonomous Vehicles

Science.

Shariff, A.F. Wiwad, D., & Aknin, L.B. (2016)

Income Mobility Breeds Tolerance for Income Inequality: Cross-national and Experimental Evidence

Perspectives on Psychological Science.

(Supplementary Materials)

Kramer, S.R. & Shariff, A.F. (2016)

Religion, deception and self-deception [chapter]

Cheating, Corruption and Concealment

Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A.F., Gervais, W.M., Willard, A.K., McNamara, R., Slingerland, E., & Henrich, J. (2016).

The Cultural Evolution of Prosocial Religions

Behavioral and Brain Sciences [target article]

Shariff, A.F. & Norenzayan, A. (2015)

A Question of Reliability or of Boundary Conditions? Commentary on Gomes & McCullough

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Shariff, A.F. (2015).

Does Religion Increase Moral Behavior?

Current Opinion in Psychology

Rios, K., Cheng, Z.H., Trotton, R., & Shariff, A.F. (2015).

Negative Stereotypes cause Christians to Underperform In and Disidentify with Science

Social and Personality Psychology Science

Shariff, A.F., Willard, A.K., Andersen, T., &  Norenzayan, A., (2015).

Religious Priming: A Meta-analysis with a Focus on Prosociality

Personality and Social Psychology Review

*Shariff, A.F., *Piazza, J., & *Kramer, S.R. (2014).

Morality and the Religious Mind: Why Theists and Non-theists differ

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Shariff, A.F., Greene, J.D., Karremans, J.C., Luguri, J., Clark, C. J., Schooler, J.W., Baumeister, R.F. & Vohs, K.D. (2014).

Free Will and Punishment: A Mechanistic View of Human Nature Reduces Retribution

Psychological Science

(Supplementary Materials)

Clark, C. J., Luguri, J., Ditto, P.H., Knobe, J., Shariff, A.F., & Baumeister, R.F. (2014).

Free to Punish:
 A Motivated Account of Free Will Belief.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Shariff, A.F., Purzycki, B.G., & Sosis, R. (2014).

Religions as Cultural Solutions to Social Living [chapter]

Culture Reexamined: Broadening Our Understanding of Social and Evolutionary Influences

Tsang, J., Rowatt, W.C., & Shariff, A.F. (2014).

Religion and Prosociality [chapter]

Oxford Handbook of Religion

Rahwan, I., Krasnoshtan, D., Shariff, A.F., & Bonnefon, J.F. (2014).

Analytical reasoning task reveals limits of social learning in networks.

Journal of the Royal Society Interface

(Supplementary Materials)

Shariff, A.F. & Aknin, L.B. (2014).

The Emotional Toll of Hell: Cross-national and experimental evidence for the negative well-being effects of Hell beliefs.

PLoS One

Tracy, J.L., Shariff, A.F., Zhao, W., & Henrich, J. (2013).

Cross-Cultural Evidence that the Nonverbal Expression of Pride is an Automatic Status Signal.

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

(Supplementary Materials)

Shariff, A.F. & Rhemtulla, M. (2012).

Divergent effects of heaven and hell beliefs on national crime.

PLoS One

(Data)

*Laurin, K., *Shariff, A.F., Kay, A.C., & Henrich, J. (2012).

Outsourcing punishment to god: Beliefs in divine control reduce earthly punishment.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

(Supplementary Materials)

Shariff, A.F., Markusoff, J. & Tracy, J.L. (2012).

(Implicitly) Judging a Book by its Cover: The Unavoidable Inference of Status from Pride and Shame Expressions.

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

Martens, J.P., Tracy, J.L. & Shariff, A.F. (2012).

Status signals: The social functions of the pride and shame expressions.

Cognition & Emotion

Markowitz, E.M. & Shariff, A.F. (2012).

Climate change and Moral Judgement: Psychological challenges and opportunities.

Nature Climate Change

Shariff, A.F. & Tracy, J.L. (2011).

Emotion Expressions: On signals, symbols and spandrels.

Current Directions in Psychological Science

Shariff, A.F. & Tracy, J.L. (2011).

What are Emotion Expressions for?

Current Directions in Psychological Science

(Hi-res evolution of expressions chart)

Gervais, W. M., Shariff, A.F. & Norenzayan, A. (2011).

Do You Believe in Atheists? Trust and anti-atheist prejudice.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Shariff, A.F. (2011).

Big Gods Were Made for Big Groups: Commentary on Schloss & Murray.

Religion, Brain and Behavior

Shariff, A.F., & Norenzayan, A. (2011).

Mean Gods Make Good People: Different views of God predict cheating behavior.

International Journal for Psychology of Religion

(Views of God Scale)

Shariff, A.F., Tracy, J.L, & Cheng, J.T. (2010).

Naturalism and the Tale of Two Facets.

Emotion Review (author response to commentaries)

Tracy, J.L, Shariff, A.F & Cheng, J.T. (2010).

A Naturalist’s View of Pride.

Emotion Review (target article)

Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A.F., & Gervais, W. (2010).

The Evolution of Religious Misbelief.

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Shariff, A.F., & Tracy, J.L. (2009).

Knowing Who’s Boss: Implicit Perceptions of Status from the Nonverbal Expression of Pride.

Emotion

Shariff, A.F., Norenzayan, A. & Henrich, J. (2009).

The Birth of High Gods: How the cultural evolution of supernatural policing agents influenced the emergence of complex, cooperative human societies, paving the way for civilization.

Evolution, Culture and the Human Mind. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (chapter)

Cohen, A. B, Shariff, A.F., & Hill, P.C. (2008)

The Accessibility of Religious Beliefs.

Journal of Research in Personality.

Norenzayan, A. & Shariff, A.F. (2008)

The Origin and Evolution of Religious Prosociality.

Science

Shariff, A.F., Cohen, A.B., & Norenzayan, A. (2008)

The Devil’s Advocate: Secular Arguments Diminish both Implicit and Explicit Religious Belief.

Journal of Cognition and Culture

Shariff, A.F., Schooler, J.W. & Vohs, K.D. (2008).

The Hazards of Claiming to Have Solved the Hard Problem of Free Will.

Psychology and Free Will. Oxford University Press. (chapter)

Shariff, A.F. (2008).

One Species under God? Sorting through the pieces of religion and cooperation.

The Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories, and Critique. Collins Foundation Press. (chapter)

Cohen, A.B., Hill, P.C., Shariff, A.F., & Rozin, P. (2008).

Furthering the Evolution of Discussion on Religion: Multi-Method Study, Universality, and Cultural Variation.

The Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories, and Critique. Collins Foundation Press. (chapter)

Shariff, A.F., & Norenzayan, A. (2007).

God is watching you: Supernatural agent concepts increase prosocial behavior in an anonymous economic game.

Psychological Science

Note: The implicit priming technique used in this paper is not reliable. For a more effective priming method, and more robust evidence for religious prosociality, refer to White et al. (2018).

Shariff, A.F. & Peterson, J.B. (2005).

Anticipatory Consciousness, Libet’s Veto and a Close Enough Theory of Free Will.

Consciousness and Emotion