Publications

Journal articles, book chapters, and working papers from the CAMP lab.

63+ publications
Working Papers
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2025
The science fiction science method
Rahwan, I., Shariff, A., & Bonnefon, J.-F. (2025). Nature, 644(8075), 51–58.
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Predicting the social and behavioral impact of future technologies, before they are achieved, would allow us to guide their development and regulation before these impacts get entrenched. Traditionally, this prediction has relied on qualitative, narrative methods. We suggest that the reason this method has not been fully embraced, despite its potential benefits, is that experimental scientists may be reluctant to engage in work facing such serious validity threats as science fiction science. To address these threats, we consider possible constraints on the kind of technology that science fiction science may study, as well as the unconventional, immersive methods that science fiction science may require.

Taking faculty diversity seriously means asking why it matters
Shariff, A. (2025). Nature Reviews Psychology.
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Abstract will be added soon.

End of world beliefs are common, diverse, and predict how people perceive and respond to global risks
Billet, M. I., White, C., Shariff, A., & Norenzayan, A. (in press).
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Trade-offs in economic preferences: Partisans perceive ideological divergence where there is strong convergence
Wiwad, D., Waldfogel, H., Shariff, A., & Kteily, N. (in press).
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2024
Fears about artificial intelligence across 20 countries and six domains of application
Dong, M., Conway, J. R., Bonnefon, J.-F., Shariff, A., & Rahwan, I. (2024). American Psychologist.
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Megastudy testing 25 treatments to reduce antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity
Voelkel, J. G., Stagnaro, M. N., Chu, J. Y., Pink, S. L., Mernyk, J. S., Redekopp, C., … Shariff, A. (2024). Science.
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System circumvention: Dishonest-illegal transgressions are perceived as justified in non-meritocratic societies
Koo, H. J., Piff, P. K., Moskowitz, J. P., & Shariff, A. F. (2024). British Journal of Social Psychology.
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Perceived mental illness is associated with judgments of less agency, yet more moral wrongness
Maheshka, C., Doyle, M., Mercier, B., Shariff, A., & Clark, C. J. (2024). Possibility Studies & Society.
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Why do organizations take political stances? A review of reasons and risks
Clark, C. J., Isch, C., & Shariff, A. F. (2024). Social and Personality Psychology Compass.
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Morality in the anthropocene: The perversion of compassion and punishment in the online world
Robertson, C. E., Shariff, A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2024). PNAS Nexus.
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A synthesis of evidence for policy from behavioral science during COVID-19
Ruggeri, K., et al. (2024). Nature.
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Religiosity predicts prosociality, especially when measured by self-report: A meta-analysis of almost 60 years of research
Kelly, J. M., Kramer, S. R., & Shariff, A. F. (2024). Psychological Bulletin.
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2023
The moral psychology of artificial intelligence
Bonnefon, J.-F., Rahwan, I., & Shariff, A. F. (2023). Annual Review of Psychology, 75, 653–675.
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Cultural differences in people's reactions and applications of robots, algorithms, and artificial intelligence
Yam, K. C., Tan, T., Jackson, J. C., Shariff, A., & Gray, K. (2023). Management and Organization Review.
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Exposure to robot preachers undermines religious commitment
Jackson, J. C., Yam, K. C., Tang, P. M., & Shariff, A. F. (2023). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
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Thinking about God encourages prosociality towards religious outgroups: A cross-cultural investigation
Pasek, M. H., Kelly, J. M., Shackleford, C., White, C. J. M., Vishkin, A., Smith, J. M., Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A. F., & Ginges, J. (2023). Psychological Science.
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2022
The moralization of effort
Celniker, J. B., Gregory, A., Koo, H., Piff, P. K., Ditto, P. H., & Shariff, A. F. (2022). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152(1), 60–79.
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People believe that effort is valuable, but what kind of value does it confer? We find that displays of effort signal moral character. Eight studies (N = 5,502) demonstrate that the exertion of effort is deemed morally admirable and is monetarily rewarded, even in situations where effort does not directly generate additional product, quality, or economic value.

If I could do it, so can they: Among the rich, those with humbler origins are less sensitive to the difficulties of the poor
Koo, H., Piff, P. K., & Shariff, A. F. (2022). Social Psychological and Personality Science.
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Polarized citizen preferences for the ethical allocation of scarce medical resources in 20 countries
Awad, E., Bago, B., Bonnefon, J.-F., Christakis, N., & Shariff, A. (2022). MDM Policy & Practice.
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Overestimating reported prejudice causes Democrats to believe disadvantaged groups are less electable
Mercier, B., Celniker, J. B., & Shariff, A. F. (2022). Political Psychology.
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Ideology trumps self-interest: Continued support for a political leader despite disappointing tax returns
Rathje, S., Shariff, A., & Schnall, S. (2022). Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties.
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2021
How safe is safe enough? Psychological mechanisms underlying extreme safety demands for self-driving cars
Shariff, A., Bonnefon, J.-F., & Rahwan, I. (2021). Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.
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Motivated free will beliefs: The theory, new (preregistered) studies, and three meta-analyses
Clark, C. J., Winegard, B. M., & Shariff, A. F. (2021). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
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Recognizing the impact of COVID-19 on the poor alters attitudes towards poverty and inequality
Wiwad, D., Mercier, B., Piff, P. K., Shariff, A., & Aknin, L. B. (2021). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
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The role of gratitude in motivating intergenerational environmental stewardship
Syropoulos, S., Watkins, H., Shariff, A. F., Hodges, S. D., & Markowitz, E. (2021). Journal of Environmental Psychology.
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Treatment of missing data determines conclusions regarding moralizing gods: Comment on Whitehouse et al. (2019)
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). Nature.
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2020
The privacy mismatch: Evolved intuitions in a digital world
Shariff, A., Green, J., & Jettinghoff, W. (2020). Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30(2), 159–166.
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Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response
Van Bavel, J. J., Baicker, K., Boggio, P. S., Capraro, V., Cichocka, A., Cikara, M., … Willer, R. (2020). Nature Human Behaviour.
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Political differences in free will belief are linked to differences in moralization
Everett, J. A., Clark, C. J., Meindl, P., Luguri, J., Earp, B. D., Ditto, P., Graham, J., & Shariff, A. (2020). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 120(2), 461–483.
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Shifting attributions for poverty motivates opposition to inequality and enhances egalitarianism
Piff, P. K., Wiwad, D., Robinson, A., Aknin, L. B., Mercier, B., & Shariff, A. (2020). Nature Human Behaviour, 4(5), 496–505.
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Reply to: Life and death decisions of autonomous vehicles
Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Kim, R., Schultz, J., Henrich, J., Shariff, A. F., Bonnefon, J.-F., & Rahwan, I. (2020). Nature.
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Blaming humans for shared responsibility in automated vehicle accidents
Awad, E., Levine, S., Kleiman-Weiner, M., Dsouza, S., Tenenbaum, J. B., Shariff, A. F., Bonnefon, J.-F., & Rahwan, I. (2020). Nature Human Behaviour.
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Universals and variations in moral decisions made in 42 countries by 70,000 participants
Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Shariff, A. F., Rahwan, I., & Bonnefon, J.-F. (2020). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(5), 2332–2337.
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2019
The support for economic inequality scale: Development and adjudication
Wiwad, D., Mercier, B., Maraun, M. D., Robinson, A. R., Piff, P. K., Aknin, L. B., & Shariff, A. F. (2019). PLOS ONE.
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Machine behavior
Rahwan, I., Cebrian, M., Obradovich, N., Bongard, J., Bonnefon, J.-F., Breazeal, C., … Wellman, M. (2019). Nature.
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Supernatural norm enforcement: Thinking about karma and God reduces selfishness among believers
White, C. J. M., Kelly, J. M., Shariff, A. F., & Norenzayan, A. (2019). Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 84, 103797.
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The trolley, the bull bar, and why engineers should care about the ethics of autonomous cars
Bonnefon, J.-F., Shariff, A. F., & Rahwan, I. (2019). Proceedings of the IEEE.
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2018
Muslim mass shooters are perceived as less mentally ill and more motivated by religion
Mercier, B., Norris, A., & Shariff, A. F. (2018). Psychology of Violence.
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The Moral Machine experiment
Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Kim, R., Schulz, J., Henrich, J., Shariff, A. F., Bonnefon, J.-F., & Rahwan, I. (2018). Nature, 563, 59–64.
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With the rapid development of artificial intelligence have come concerns about how machines will make moral decisions, and humans have disagreed about what moral algorithms should be used. To address this concern, we deployed the Moral Machine, an online experimental platform designed to explore the moral dilemmas faced by autonomous vehicles. This platform gathered 39.61 million decisions from 233 countries, territories and islands. We found variations in preferences for values such as sparing humans over animals, avoiding intervention, and preferring to spare the young, fitting with a three-cluster structure.

The belief in God: Why people believe and why they don't
Mercier, B. M., Kramer, S. R., & Shariff, A. F. (2018). Current Directions in Psychological Science.
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Cooperating with machines
Crandall, J. W., Oudah, M., Ishowo-Oloko, F., Abdallah, S., Bonnefon, J.-F., Cebrian, M., Shariff, A. F., Goodrich, M. A., & Rahwan, I. (2018). Nature Communications.
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2017
Psychological roadblocks to the adoption of self-driving vehicles
Shariff, A. F., Rahwan, I., & Bonnefon, J.-F. (2017). Nature Human Behaviour.
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Asymmetry and empathy: Higher asymmetry is associated with lower levels of mentalizing
Christian, C. B., & Shariff, A. F. (2017). Early Human Development.
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Are wrathful gods the killer app of religion? Two nits to pick with Johnson's God Is Watching You
Shariff, A. F. (2017). Religion, Brain & Behavior.
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2016
Religious priming as a research tool for studying religion: Evidentiary value, current issues, and future directions
Willard, A. K., Shariff, A. F., & Norenzayan, A. (2016). Current Opinion in Psychology.
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Forgive us our trespasses: Priming a forgiving (but not a punishing) God increases unethical behavior
DeBono, A. E., Shariff, A. F., Poole, S., & Muraven, M. (2016). Psychology of Religion and Spirituality.
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What is the association between religious affiliation and children's altruism?
Shariff, A. F., Willard, A. K., Murthukrishna, M., Kramer, S. R., & Henrich, J. (2016). Current Biology.
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The social dilemma of autonomous vehicles
Bonnefon, J.-F., Shariff, A. F., & Rahwan, I. (2016). Science, 352(6293), 1573–1576.
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Autonomous vehicles (AVs) should reduce traffic accidents, but they will sometimes have to choose between two evils, such as running over pedestrians or sacrificing themselves and their passenger to save the pedestrians. Defining the algorithms that will help AVs make these moral decisions is a formidable challenge. We found that participants approved of utilitarian AVs (that is, AVs that sacrifice their passengers for the greater good) and would like others to buy them, but they would prefer not to ride in such AVs themselves, and they would disapprove of their government mandating utilitarian AVs.

Income mobility breeds tolerance for income inequality: Cross-national and experimental evidence
Shariff, A. F., Wiwad, D., & Aknin, L. B. (2016). Perspectives on Psychological Science.
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The cultural evolution of prosocial religions
Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A. F., Gervais, W. M., Willard, A. K., McNamara, R., Slingerland, E., & Henrich, J. (2016). Behavioral and Brain Sciences [target article].
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2015
A question of reliability or of boundary conditions? Commentary on Gomes & McCullough
Shariff, A. F., & Norenzayan, A. (2015). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
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Does religion increase moral behavior?
Shariff, A. F. (2015). Current Opinion in Psychology.
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Negative stereotypes cause Christians to underperform in and disidentify with science
Rios, K., Cheng, Z. H., Trotton, R., & Shariff, A. F. (2015). Social Psychological and Personality Science.
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Religious priming: A meta-analysis with a focus on prosociality
Shariff, A. F., Willard, A. K., Andersen, T., & Norenzayan, A. (2015). Personality and Social Psychology Review.
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2014
Morality and the religious mind: Why theists and non-theists differ
Shariff, A. F., Piazza, J., & Kramer, S. R. (2014). Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
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Free will and punishment: A mechanistic view of human nature reduces retribution
Shariff, A. F., Greene, J. D., Karremans, J. C., Luguri, J., Clark, C. J., Schooler, J. W., Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2014). Psychological Science.
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Free to punish: A motivated account of free will belief
Clark, C. J., Luguri, J., Ditto, P. H., Knobe, J., Shariff, A. F., & Baumeister, R. F. (2014). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
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Analytical reasoning task reveals limits of social learning in networks
Rahwan, I., Krasnoshtan, D., Shariff, A. F., & Bonnefon, J.-F. (2014). Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
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2013
Cross-cultural evidence that the nonverbal expression of pride is an automatic status signal
Tracy, J. L., Shariff, A. F., Zhao, W., & Henrich, J. (2013). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
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2012
Divergent effects of belief in heaven and hell on national crime rates
Shariff, A. F., & Rhemtulla, M. (2012). PLOS ONE.
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Book Chapters
Morality and the evolution of religion
Shariff, A. F., & Mercier, B. (2021). In J. Liddle & T. Shackleford (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of evolutionary perspectives on religion. Oxford University Press.
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The moral psychology of AI and the ethical opt-out problem
Bonnefon, J.-F., Shariff, A. F., & Rahwan, I. (2020). In M. Liao (Ed.), The ethics of artificial intelligence. Oxford University Press.
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On balance
Shariff, A. F. (2020). In A. B. Cohen (Ed.), Religion and flourishing. Baylor University Press.
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Does religion contribute to prosociality?
Shariff, A. F. (2020). In A. B. Cohen (Ed.), Religion and flourishing. Baylor University Press.
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The geographies of religious and non-religious moralities
Mercier, B., & Shariff, A. F. (2018). In K. Gray & J. Graham (Eds.), The atlas of moral psychology. Guilford Press.
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Religion, deception and self-deception
Kramer, S. R., & Shariff, A. F. (2015). In J. van Prooijen & P. van Lange (Eds.), The roots of dishonest behavior. Cambridge University Press.
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Religion and prosocial behavior
Tsang, J., Rowatt, W. C., & Shariff, A. F. (2014). In D. A. Schroeder & W. Graziano (Eds.), Oxford handbook of prosocial behavior. Oxford University Press.
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Religion as a cultural solution to social living
Shariff, A. F., Purzycki, B. G., & Sosis, R. (2013). In A. B. Cohen (Ed.), New directions in the psychology of culture. American Psychological Association.
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The birth of high gods: How the cultural evolution of supernatural policing agents influenced the emergence of complex, cooperative human societies
Shariff, A. F., Norenzayan, A., & Henrich, J. (2009). In M. Schaller et al. (Eds.), Evolution, culture and the human mind (pp. 117–136). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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The hazards of claiming to have solved the hard problem of free will
Shariff, A. F., Schooler, J. W., & Vohs, K. D. (2008). In J. Baer, J. Kaufman, & R. F. Baumeister (Eds.), Psychology and free will (pp. 181–204). Oxford University Press.
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One species under God? Sorting through the pieces of religion and cooperation
Shariff, A. F. (2008). In J. Bulbulia et al. (Eds.), The evolution of religion: Studies, theories, and critique (pp. 119–125). Collins Foundation Press.
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Furthering the evolution of discussion on religion: Multi-method study, universality, and cultural variation
Cohen, A. B., Hill, P. C., Shariff, A. F., & Rozin, P. (2008). In J. Bulbulia et al. (Eds.), The evolution of religion: Studies, theories, and critique (pp. 311–317). Collins Foundation Press.
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Anticipatory consciousness, Libet's veto, and a close-enough theory of free will
Shariff, A. F., & Peterson, J. B. (2005). In R. D. Ellis & N. Newton (Eds.), Consciousness and emotion (pp. 197–215). John Benjamins.
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