The moralization bias of gods’ minds : a cross-cultural test

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F22%3A00125647" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/22:00125647 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006291" target="_blank" >https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006291</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006291" target="_blank" >10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006291</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

The moralization bias of gods’ minds : a cross-cultural test

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

There are compelling reasons to expect that cognitively representing any active, powerful deity motivates cooperative behavior. One mechanism underlying this association could be a cognitive bias toward generally attributing moral concern to anthropomorphic agents. If humans cognitively represent the minds of deities and humans in the same way, and if human agents are generally conceptualized as having moral concern, a broad tendency to attribute moral concern—a “moralization bias”—to supernatural deities follows. Using data from 2,228 individuals in 15 different field sites, we test for the existence of such a bias. We find that people are indeed more likely than chance to indicate that local deities care about punishing theft, murder, and deceit. This effect is stable even after holding beliefs about explicitly moralistic deities constant. Additionally, we take a close look at data collected among Hadza foragers and find two of their deities to be morally interested. There is no evidence to suggest that this effect is due to direct missionary contact. We posit that the “moralization bias of gods’ minds” is part of a widespread but variable religious phenotype, and a candidate mechanism that contributes to the well-recognized association between religion and cooperation.

Název v anglickém jazyce

The moralization bias of gods’ minds : a cross-cultural test

Popis výsledku anglicky

There are compelling reasons to expect that cognitively representing any active, powerful deity motivates cooperative behavior. One mechanism underlying this association could be a cognitive bias toward generally attributing moral concern to anthropomorphic agents. If humans cognitively represent the minds of deities and humans in the same way, and if human agents are generally conceptualized as having moral concern, a broad tendency to attribute moral concern—a “moralization bias”—to supernatural deities follows. Using data from 2,228 individuals in 15 different field sites, we test for the existence of such a bias. We find that people are indeed more likely than chance to indicate that local deities care about punishing theft, murder, and deceit. This effect is stable even after holding beliefs about explicitly moralistic deities constant. Additionally, we take a close look at data collected among Hadza foragers and find two of their deities to be morally interested. There is no evidence to suggest that this effect is due to direct missionary contact. We posit that the “moralization bias of gods’ minds” is part of a widespread but variable religious phenotype, and a candidate mechanism that contributes to the well-recognized association between religion and cooperation.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

60304 - Religious studies

Projekt

—

Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2022

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Religion, Brain & Behavior

ISSN

2153-599X

e-ISSN

2153-5981

Svazek periodika

12

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

1-2

Stát vydavatele periodika

GB - Spojené království Velké Británie a Severního Irska

Počet stran výsledku

23

Strana od-do

38-60

Kód UT WoS článku

000778745700004

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85125073354