UBC social psychologists Ara Norenzayan and Azim Shariff said that religious people are more likely than the non-religious to engage in prosocial behavior - acts that benefit others at a personal cost - when it enhances the individual's reputation or when religious thoughts are freshly activated in the person's mind.

Firstly, the study reviewed data from anthropology, sociology, psychology and economics. Later, the researchers explored how religion, by encouraging cooperation, became a factor in making possible the rise of large and stable societies made of genetically unrelated individuals.

Norenzayan said that till date, the public debate whether religion fosters cooperation and trust has largely been driven by opinion and anecdote.

"We wanted to look at the hard scientific evidence," said Norenzayan, an associate professor in the Dept. of Psychology.

Across all the disciplines, the researchers closed in on complementary results. Empirical data within anthropology suggests there is more cooperation among religious societies than the non-religious, especially when group survival is under threat.

Economic experiments indicate that religiosity increases levels of trust among participants, while psychology experiments show that thoughts of an omniscient, morally concerned God reduce levels of cheating and selfish behavior.