The idea that some cultural groups are more fatalistic than others is not new. More than 100 years ago, social theorist Max Weber claimed that capitalism first emerged in Protestant countries and not elsewhere because, as religions go, the Protestant faith was less fatalistic than the others. Unlike Catholics, for example, early Protestants extolled the virtues of planning and hard work.

In a similar vein, some scholars have noted that Muslim Arabs are more fatalistic than non-Muslims and non-Arabs (De Atkine, 2004; Nydell, 2005). In 2004, a World Values Survey found that Muslims were, on average, more fatalistic than Christians. In 2012, a Pew Foundation survey found that, in 19 of 23 Muslim countries, at least 70% of respondents said they believed in predestination (Kismet) or fate (Qadar).

I think it’s difficult to know what to make of these observations, in part because global surveys typically include a single question about fatalistic thinking. One question, no matter how carefully worded, cannot capture a person’s thoughts about a complex concept or belief.

In addition, researchers have not yet settled on a standard definition of fatalism. Some have conceptualized fatalism as “the belief that the events of one’s life are largely beyond one’s control” (Caplan & Schooler, 2003). Others have said that fatalistic thinking is a belief that a person’s fortune or misfortune is not due to chance but is an outcome meant to be (Pepitone & Saffiotti, 1997). Researchers who investigated fatalism in former Soviet republics said a “fatalistic outlook is one of........

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