Social & Personality

PhD, University of British Columbia, 2010

Dr. Azim Shariff is a social psychologist whose research focuses on where morality intersects with religion, cultural attitudes and economics. Another rapidly expanding part of his research looks at human-technology interactions and the ethics of automation, including self-driving cars.

Dr. Shariff’s research focuses on where morality intersects with religion, cultural and economic attitudes, and emerging technologies.

Shariff, A.F., Green, J. & Jettinghoff, W. (2021). The Privacy Mismatch: Evolved Intuitions in a Digital World. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30(2), 159–166.

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, 120(2), 461-483.

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 Behaviour, , 4(5), 496-505.

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, 117 (5), 2332-233.

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, 84, 103797.

Awad, E., Dsouza, S., Kim, R., Schultz, J. Henrich, J., Shariff, A.F. Bonnefon, J.F. & Rahwan, I. (2018). The Moral Machine Experiment. Nature, 563, 59-64.

Mercier, B., Kramer, S.R. & Shariff, A.F., (2018). The Belief in God: Why People Believe and Why They Do Not. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27, 263-268.

Bonnefon, J.F, Shariff, A.F., & Rahwan, I. (2016). The Social Dilemma of Autonomous Vehicles. Science, 352 (6293). 1573-1576

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, 11(3), 373-380.

Shariff, A.F., Piazza, J., & Kramer, S.R. (2014). Morality and the Religious Mind: Why theists and non-theists differ. Trends in Cognitive Science, 18(9), 439-441.

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, 106, 501-513.

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, 25(8), 1563-1570.

Markowitz, E.M. & Shariff, A.F. (2012). Climate change and moral judgement: Psychological challenges and opportunities. Nature Climate Change, 2(4), 243-247.

Norenzayan, A. & Shariff, A.F. (2008) The Origin and Evolution of Religious Prosociality. Science, 322 (5898), 58-62.

Shariff, A.F., & Norenzayan, A. (2007). God is watching you: Supernatural agent concepts increase prosocial behavior in an anonymous economic game. Psychological Science, 18, 803-809.

• 2021 Fellow - Association for Psychological Science
• 2020 Kavli Fellow – National Academy of Sciences
• 2018 Canada 150 Research Chair
• 2017 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Daniel Wegner Theoretical Innovation Prize
• 2015 Rising Star - Association for Psychological Science
• 2015 Fellow - Society of Experimental Social Psychology
• 2012 Margaret Gorman Early Career Award - APA Division 36