The Impact of Church Activities and Socialization on African‐American Religious Commitment*

Objective. This article examines religious commitment (church involvement, private devotionalism, and religious salience) among African Americans as a function of being served by a religious congregation, perception of the historical role of the church in relation to the group, and religious and racial socialization. Methods. Drawing on traditional Christian expectations of the church, hypotheses are tested using the 1979–1980 National Survey of Black Americans. Three alternative models are tested that explicitly compare the effects of church activities with conventional socialization and demographic models of religious commitment. Results. The results show that the church's fulfillment of its normative roles of discipleship and ministry is profoundly important for understanding religiosity, even controlling for other conventional predictors. Conclusions. The analysis illustrates a central, and previously unaddressed, link between religious institutions and individual religiosity. The results have consequences for churches that might consider reprioritizing their activities in response to faith‐based initiatives because social‐service types of church activities influence religious commitment to a lesser degree than activities that emphasize spiritual growth.     

Faith and Politics: The Influence of Religious Beliefs on Political Participation*

Objective. The relationship between religion and political participation has not been rigorously investigated, typically employing only basic measures of church attendance or denomination. In this study, we utilize precise measures of various religious behaviors, traditions, and beliefs to examine their influence on political participation. Methods. Using data from the Baylor Religion Survey 2005, we demonstrate that merely including measures of church attendance or denomination camouflages much of religion's influence on political participation. Results. We find that religious beliefs are significantly related to national political participation. For religious activities, identifying with a religious tradition reduces participation, but participation in church activities increases political participation. Conclusion. Different types of religious beliefs influence political participation differently. Although some macro religious beliefs significantly increase macro political behavior, believers in an involved God are less likely to participate politically. Individualistic, micro beliefs have no affect on national politics. Thus, the scope of the religious belief fits with the scope of the political activity, in that more macro concerns translate to national political participation.     

Risk aversion and physical prowess: Prediction,choice and bias

This paper reports on experiments where individuals are asked to make risky decisions for themselves, and to predict the risky decisions of others. Prior research shows that people predict women to be more risk averse than men, a result we confirm. We investigate whether differences in physical prowess underlie actual and perceived gender differences, a hypothesis suggested by both evolutionary and economic theories. Overall we find that perceptions of others’ risk attitudes reflect stereotypes about gender and strength but tend to exaggerate the underlying relationships. Physically stronger and taller people and those perceived as attractive are predicted to be more risk tolerant, while women are perceived to be more risk averse. The impact of gender and physical prowess measures on actual gamble choices is much weaker. Sources of prediction bias are examined, showing that specific characteristics of the target and predictor lead to systematic over-prediction or under-prediction of risk aversion.     

Learning-by-doing in an ambiguous environment

How well do revealed ambiguity preferences predict how people choose to seek new information about uncertain events? In an economics experiment, we apply a new instrument to measure ambiguity preferences, and in a later session observe to what extent the measure predicts the choice to receive costly information in a learning-by-doing game. Ambiguity averse subjects are more willing to pay to receive information, while risk averse subjects are not. Holding ambiguity preferences constant, risk averse subjects tend to perform worse than risk loving subjects. The returns to experimentation, especially for ambiguity averse subjects, suggest a not-well studied but important role that ambiguity preferences play in decision-making under uncertainty.     

Gender, Financial Risk, and Probability Weights

Women are commonly stereotyped as more risk averse than men in financial decision making. In this paper we examine whether this stereotype reflects gender differences in actual risk-taking behavior by means of a laboratory experiment with monetary incentives. Gender differences in risk taking may be due to differences in valuations of outcomes or in probability weights. The results of our experiment indicate that value functions do not differ significantly between men and women. Men and women differ in their probability weighting schemes, however. In general, women tend to be less sensitive to probability changes. They also tend to underestimate large probabilities of gains more strongly than do men. This effect is particularly pronounced when the decisions are framed in investment terms. As a result, women appear to be more risk averse than men in specific circumstances.     

Religious involvement and group identification: The case of Hispanics in the United States

This study examines the link between religious involvement and racial group identification among Hispanics in the United States. Relying on the multifaceted nature of religious involvement, this study focuses on five dimensions of religious involvement—church attendance, prayer, the importance one places on religion, one's belief in God's love, and religious affiliation. Using the data from the Panel Study of American Religion and Ethnicity (1st wave, 2006), this study employs regression analysis. The results show that, among the five dimensions of religious involvement, only church attendance has a significant effect on racial group identification; Hispanics who frequently attend church are more likely to identify with Hispanics. This study suggests that church attendance increases Hispanics’ group identification for two reasons: first, because of the formation of Hispanic-oriented churches; and second, because of the intense interaction among Hispanics within their church communities.     

从类型学到动态研究：兼论信仰的流动

自从杨庆堃提出“混合宗教”与“制度化宗教”概念之后,类型学建构成为华人宗教研究的主流。本文尝试进行视角的转换,用“基于类型学基础上的动态研究”来分析华人社会中信仰的流动。该视角一方面强调类型学的重要性,认为在研究中国宗教时有必要对“灵”、“义”等本土概念予以社会科学化;另一方面它强调揭示类型之间的联系与变化,将静态的类型学考察转化为动态分析。本文认为,动态的视角有助于关照到被类型学忽略的过程以及隐匿于其中的趋势,继而发展诸多经典理论,即研究神灵的流动有助于理解“神灵的诞生与竞争”,研究信徒的流动可以丰富“改教”理论,对宗教组织流动的研究则可以拓宽“教派-教会”理论的视野。     

Digit ratios (2D:4D) as predictors of risky decision making for both sexes

Many important decisions involve financial risk, and substantial evidence suggests that women tend to be more risk averse than men. We explore a potential biological basis of risk-taking variation within and between the sexes by studying how the ratio between the length of the second and fourth fingers (2D:4D) predicts risk-taking. A smaller 2D:4D ratio has been linked to higher exposure to prenatal testosterone relative to estradiol, with men having lower ratios than women. In financially motivated decision-making tasks, we find that men and women with smaller 2D:4D ratios chose significantly riskier options. We further find that the ratio partially explains the variation in risk-taking between the sexes. Moreover, for men and women at the extremes of the digit-ratio distribution the difference in risk-taking disappears. Thus, the 2D:4D ratio partially explains variation in financial risk-taking behavior within and between sexes and offers evidence of a biological basis for risk-taking behavior.     

School environment and risk preferences: Experimental evidence

Using a field experiment with high school students, we evaluate the development of risk preferences. Examining the impact of school characteristics on preference development reveals both peer and quality effects. For the peer effect, individuals in schools with a higher percentage of students on free or reduced lunches (hence a higher proportion of low-income peers with whom to interact) are significantly more risk averse. For the quality effect, individuals in schools with smaller class sizes and a higher percentage of educators with advanced degrees have higher, more moderate levels of risk aversion. We further discuss economic, cognitive and emotional development theories of risk preferences. Data show demographic-related patterns: girls are more risk averse on average, while taller and nonwhite individuals are more risk tolerant.     

宗教与美国公共政策

美国宪法实行＂政教＂分离原则,禁止教会干预国家政务,但事实上,宗教组织在美国政治体制中如同利益集团一样运作,以各种方式参与和影响公共政策的制定,以确保自己的宗教利益。鉴于美国宗教组织在教义信仰和组织结构上呈多元化,它们对公共政策的影响方式和程度也各自相异,主要取决于历史传统、教义信条、内部团结力量、外部反对力量、战略地位和时代精神等因素。     

Stability of risk preferences and the reflection effect of prospect theory

Are risk preferences stable over time? To address this question we elicit risk preferences from the same pool of subjects at two different moments in time. To interpret the results, we use a Fechner stochastic choice model in which the revealed preference of individuals is governed by some underlying preference, together with a random error. We take cumulative prospect theory as the underlying preference model (Kahneman and Tversky, Econometrica 47:263–292, 1979; Tversky and Kahneman, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 5:297–323, 1992). We observe that the aggregate pattern of preferences is very similar in both sessions, and it matches the results reported in the literature. Most subjects are risk averse for gains, and risk seeking for losses. However, the subjects that jointly agree with the reflection effect of prospect theory are around 50%. The percentage of individuals that change their responses across sessions is quite high, 63%. Estimating the stochastic choice model we find that 72% of the subjects have an underlying preference which agrees with the reflection effect of prospect theory. The remaining 28% are mainly classified as risk averse for both gains and losses. The results reinforce the empirical validity of the reflection effect. Deviations from the reflection effect can be attributed to noise, as well as to the existence of a fraction of risk averse subjects.     

Decreasing absolute risk aversion, prudence and increased downside risk aversion

Downside risk increases have previously been characterized as changes preferred by all decision makers u(x) with u????(x) > 0. For risk averse decision makers, u????(x) > 0 also defines prudence. This paper finds that downside risk increases can also be characterized as changes preferred by all decision makers displaying decreasing absolute risk aversion (DARA) since those changes involve random variables that have equal means. Building on these findings, the paper proposes using ??more decreasingly absolute risk averse?? or ??more prudent?? as alternative definitions of increased downside risk aversion. These alternative definitions generate a transitive ordering, while the existing definition based on a transformation function with a positive third derivative does not. Other properties of the new definitions of increased downside risk aversion are also presented.     

Normalized measures of concavity and Ross’s strongly more risk averse order

The Arrow-Pratt (A-P) definitions of absolute and relative risk aversion dominate the discussion of risk aversion and defining “more risk averse”. Ross (Econometrica 49:621–663, 1981) notes, however, that being A-P more risk averse is not sufficient for addressing many important comparative static questions. Consequently he introduces “a new and stronger measure for comparing two agents’ attitudes towards risk…”. Ross does not provide a corresponding measure of risk aversion. This paper uses a normalized measure of concavity to characterize the Ross definition of strongly more risk averse on bounded intervals. Other properties and uses of these normalized measures of concavity are also presented.     

Comparative Risk Sensitivity with Reference-Dependent Preferences

Experimental evidence suggests that individuals are risk averse over gains and risk seeking over losses (i.e., they have S-shaped utility functions in an expected utility setting) and that they are loss averse. Furthermore, the evidence leads to a single definition of S-shaped utility, but it has led to several alternative specifications of loss aversion. This paper characterizes the relations more S-shaped than and more loss averse than for a utility function, and in so doing arrives at a new definition of loss aversion based on average instead of marginal utility.     

Time preferences and risk aversion: Tests on domain differences

Understanding how individuals discount and evaluate the risks of environmental outcomes is a prime component in designing effective environmental policy. We use an incentivized experimental design to investigate whether subjects’ time preferences and risk aversion across the monetary and environmental domains differ. We find that subjects’ time preferences are not significantly different across the two domains. In contrast, subjects exhibit a higher degree of risk aversion in the environmental domain. Furthermore, we corroborate earlier results, documenting that women are more risk averse than men in the monetary domain, and show this finding to also hold in the environmental domain.     

Social comparison and risky choices

Theories (and experiments) on decision making under risk typically ignore (and exclude) a social context. We explore whether this omission is detrimental. To do so we experimentally investigate the simplest possible situation with both social comparison and risk: participants choose between two lotteries while a referent faces a fixed payoff. Participants are more risk averse when they can earn at most as much as their referent (loss situation) than when they are ensured they will earn at least as much as their referent (gain situation). Prospect theory with a social reference point would predict the exact opposite behavior. These results show that straightforward extensions of existing theories to allow for social comparison do not provide accurate predictions.     

Distributive justice of bargaining and risk sensitivity

In this paper we will point out some possibilities and limitations of the discussion of distributive justice by bargaining in the classical bargaining models.We start by considering a kind of bargaining situation where two persons with different risk aversions have to distribute a given quantity of a certain good. Then we define a model in which two bargaining situations are compared. In both situations two persons divide a quantity of a certain good; in the second situation one of the persons, say person 2, is replaced by a more risk averse person. From a well-known theorem of Kihlstrom, Roth and Schmeidler it follows that in the Nash solution, the Kalai-Smorodinsky solution and the Maschler-Perles solution person 1 prefers the situation with the more risk averse opponent.In both classes of problems the judgement of distributive justice is impossible because of an informational poverty of the classical bargaining model. We propose to integrate changes in the economic situation of the persons into the model.Therefore, in a third step, we compare two distributive situations, where differences in the situations are implied by changes in the initial endowments of the persons. Under the assumption that each person has a decreasing local risk aversion, we show that every reallocation of the initial endowments is enlarged or at least preserved by risk sensitive bargaining solutions. This fact has some significance for the discussion of distributive justice in social decision making by bargaining.     

Community Service Use by Older Adults: The Roles of Sociocultural Factors in Rural–Urban Differences

ABSTRACT

This study examined the influence of sociocultural factors in explaining the rural–urban differences in home and community-based service (HCBS) use among older adults. Survey data of 228 older adults living in Alabama were analyzed. Sociocultural factors included participants’ perceptions of service availability, attitudes toward seeking formal help, informal support, and religious behaviors. Rural older adults were less likely to use HCBS than their urban counterparts (p < .05). An interaction effect between perceived service availability and church attendance was found. These findings suggest a need for collaborations between community aging services with religious organizations to ensure existing programs are accessible to older adults living in rural areas. Future research based upon large probability samples is needed to shed more light on the relation between church attendance and service use.     

Risk and time preferences of entrepreneurs: evidence from a Danish field experiment

To understand how small business entrepreneurs respond to government policy one has to know their risk and time preferences. Are they risk averse, or have high discount rates, such that they are hard to motivate? We have conducted a set of field experiments in Denmark that will allow a direct characterization of small business entrepreneurs in terms of these traits. We build on experimental tasks that are well established in the literature. The results do not suggest that small business entrepreneurs are more or less risk averse than the general population under the assumption of Expected Utility Theory. However, we generally find an S-shaped probability weighting function for both small business entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, with entrepreneurs being more optimistic about the chance of occurrence for the best outcome in lotteries with real monetary outcomes. The results also point to a significant difference in individual discount rates between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs: entrepreneurs are willing to wait longer for certain rewards than the general population.     

Stake effects on ambiguity attitudes for gains and losses

We test the effect of stake size on ambiguity attitudes. Compared to a baseline condition, we find subjects to be more ambiguity seeking for small-probability gains and large-probability losses under high stakes. They are also more ambiguity averse for large-probability gains and small-probability losses. We trace these effects back to stake effects on decisions under risk (known probabilities) and uncertainty (unknown probabilities). For risk, we replicate previous findings. For uncertainty, we find an increase in probabilistic insensitivity under high stakes that is driven by increased uncertainty aversion for large-probability gains and for small-probability losses.