Veblen's evolutionary economics of religion and the evolutionary psychology of religion

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles G. Leathers ◽  
J. Patrick Raines
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Evolutionary Economics ◽  
Psychology Of Religion ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economics Of Religion ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Survival And Reproduction

Purpose – Because belief in a supernatural agent with extraordinary power is rooted in psychology, Veblen's instinct psychology was the essential basis for his evolutionary economics of religion. The innate behavioral traits that Veblen called instincts in human nature are now recognized in evolutionary psychology as domain-specific mechanism that evolved as adaptations to enable human survival and reproduction. The authors aim to explain how the modern evolutionary psychology of religion provides a modern psychological basis for Veblen's evolutionary economics of religion. Design/methodology/approach – First, the authors review how Veblen's theory of an evolved human nature of instincts was applied to explain the origins of religion in primitive societies and remained a resilient force despite evolutionary erosion of institutional religion as science advanced. Second, the authors note how evolutionary psychology explains the origins of religion in terms of the functioning of domain-specific psychological mechanisms that evolved as adaptations for purposes other than religion. Findings – The similarities between Veblen's instinct psychology and the explanation of religion as by-products of domain-specific psychological mechanisms are sufficient to allow the conclusion that the evolutionary psychology of religion provides a modern psychological basis for Veblen's evolutionary economics of religion. Originality/value – An evolutionary economics of religion has a great social value if it provides credible explanations of both the origins of religious belief and innate tendency for religious belief to continue even as science refutes elements of religious doctrines. With a modern psychological basis, Veblen's evolutionary economics of religion accomplishes that purpose.

scholarly journals New thinking, innateness and inherited representation

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1599) ◽  
pp. 2234-2244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Shea
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Cognitive Evolution ◽  
Psychological Traits ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
New Thinking

The New Thinking contained in this volume rejects an Evolutionary Psychology that is committed to innate domain-specific psychological mechanisms: gene-based adaptations that are unlearnt, developmentally fixed and culturally universal. But the New Thinking does not simply deny the importance of innate psychological traits. The problem runs deeper: the concept of innateness is not suited to distinguishing between the New Thinking and Evolutionary Psychology. That points to a more serious problem with the concept of innateness as it is applied to human psychological phenotypes. This paper argues that the features of recent human evolution highlighted by the New Thinking imply that the concept of inherited representation , set out here, is a better tool for theorizing about human cognitive evolution.

Evolutionary psychology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Exchange ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Nature Study ◽  
Recent Approach ◽  
Theories Of Mind ◽  
Environment Of Evolutionary Adaptedness ◽  
Adaptive Complexity

Evolutionary psychology is a recent approach to understanding human psychology that takes as its starting point the fact that minds, just like hearts, kidneys, eyes, and thumbs, are the products of evolution. Evolutionary psychologists believe that an evolutionary perspective on psychology implies ontological and methodological commitments that sharply distinguish evolutionary psychology from other scientific theories of mind. Among the more important of these commitments are that minds consist of many (thousands, according to some) domain-specific modules that arose as adaptations during the Pleistocene epoch (roughly 1.8 million years to 11.5 thousand years ago). These adaptations are common to all human beings, and thus constitute a human nature. Study of these adaptations requires hypotheses about features of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA), as well as about which psychological properties exhibit adaptive complexity. Most celebrated by evolutionary psychologists are their discoveries in the areas of mate preferences, social exchange, and parent–offspring conflict. Critics have objected that evolutionary psychology is untestable because hypotheses about the EEA cannot be tested, that evolutionary psychology is adaptationist to a fault, and that commitment to the existence of a human nature is inconsistent with evolutionary theory.

An Evolutionary Psychology of Religion

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (23) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Patton Barone
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Psychology Of Religion

Examining the pull, the push, and their simultaneous effects on managerial turnover

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (12) ◽  
pp. 2639-2654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoonhee Choi ◽  
Namgyoo K. Park
Keyword(s):  
Top Management Team ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Team ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Mechanism ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Managerial Turnover ◽  
Psychological Mechanism

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the economic and psychological mechanisms in turnover at the managerial level. The paper investigates how (1) the ease of moving posed by alternative jobs (i.e. the economic mechanism) and (2) the desire to move due to low job satisfaction (i.e. the psychological mechanism) simultaneously influence top management team (TMT) turnover and these managers' subsequent job position and pay.Design/methodology/approachUsing 25 years of panel data on more than 2,000 top managers in the United States, the paper utilizes fixed-effects logistic regressions and the ordinary least squares model to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe authors find that CEO awards (an economic mechanism) and low compensation (a psychological mechanism) independently have positive effects on turnover. Turnover due to the economic mechanism leads to a higher position and pay, whereas turnover due to the psychological mechanism does not guarantee the same outcome. Further, when examining how pay dissatisfaction influences turnover simultaneously with CEO awards, the authors find that managers with the highest pay leave their firm, and not those with the lowest pay.Originality/valueThe paper employs the pull-and-push theory in the employee turnover literature and applies it to the top management team literature. By doing so, this paper contributes original insights to how economic and psychological mechanisms simultaneously affect managerial turnover and its subsequent outcomes.

Society Needs Morality

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-117
Author(s):  
Robert A. Hinde
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
The Future ◽  
Current Reality

Morality must be resurrected in our societies. It must be a morality whose nature and sources are understood and are in keeping with current reality. Hitherto, morality has been seen as closely related to religion. That religious belief is helpful to many is indisputable, but religious narratives, treated literally, are unacceptable to modern minds, and the supposed nature of God, as discussed by sophisticated theologians, is inaccessible to everyman. Morality, based on an understanding of human nature as shaped by culture, offers hope for the future.

Expanding Evolutionary Psychology: toward a Better Understanding of Violence and Aggression

2003 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iver Mysterud ◽  
Dag Viljen Poleszynski
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Food Allergies ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Physical Chemical ◽  
Reactive Hypoglycemia ◽  
Proximate Factors ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
The Common ◽  
Habitual Intake

The “mainstream” evolutionary psychology model is currently under criticism from scientists of other persuasions wanting to expand the model or to make it more realistic in various ways. We argue that focusing on the environment as if it consisted only of social (or sociocultural) factors gives too limited a perspective if evolutionary approaches are to understand the behavior of modern humans. Taking the case of violence, we argue that numerous novel environmental factors of nutritional and physical-chemical origin should be considered as relevant proximate factors. The common thesis presented here is that several aspects of the biotic or abiotic environment are able to change brain chemistry, thus predisposing individuals to violence and aggression in given contexts. In the past, aggressive behavior has had a number of useful functions that were of particular importance to our ancestors' survival and reproduction. However, some of the conditions in our novel environment, which either lowered the threshold for aggression or released such behavior in contexts which were adaptive in our evolutionary past, no longer apply. It is high time evolutionary approaches to violence are expanded to include the possibilities that violence may be triggered by nutritionally depleted foods, reactive hypoglycemia caused by habitual intake of foods with a high glycemic index (GI), food allergies/intolerances and exposure to new environmental toxins (heavy metals, synthetic poisons).

scholarly journals Islamic marketing as macromarketing

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Djavlonbek Kadirov
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Marketing Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Present Discussion ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Means And Ends ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Separate Discipline ◽  
Field Of Inquiry

Purpose – The purpose of the article is to propose and develop a distinct perspective in Islamic marketing research through fusing the Islamic paradigm and the macromarketing theory. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual article that is based on intellectualising and reflecting on differences in understanding what marketing is and what role it plays in society. Findings – The article reveals some commonality of purpose between the macromarketing discipline and Islamic macromarketing, while the latter field of inquiry offers a unique outlook to a number of domain-specific issues. Research limitations/implications – The characterisation of Islamic macromarketing will open new avenues for future research and will make researchers more theoretically sensitive to ontological and epistemological assumptions that underlie marketing investigations. The limitation of the present discussion is that Islamic macromarketing may not have yet emerged as a separate discipline. Additionally, research on genuinely macromarketing issues in Islamic contexts is very sparse. Practical implications – Muslim practitioners and managers are to realise that the means and ends of marketing are better understood if viewed from a broader perspective of marketing's impact and consequences on society. By adopting the Islamic macromarketing perspective, public, societal institutions, business stakeholders, and managers will find a better platform to cooperate on maximising the realisation of hasanah (excellence) for all. Originality/value – This article contributes to the discipline by introducing and characterising a potentially new field of marketing inquiry.

Domain-specific and nonspecific outcomes of work-family interface

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-142
Author(s):  
Abha Bhalla ◽  
Lakhwinder Singh Kang
Keyword(s):  
Family Conflict ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Family Satisfaction ◽  
Work And Family ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Domain Satisfaction ◽  
Work Family Conflict ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Work Family

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the pattern of work-family interface outcomes by empirically testing work-family conflict and facilitation bidirectional dimensions simultaneously in relation to domains-specific (job and family) and domain nonspecific (life) satisfactions. In addition, the indirect effects of work-family interface dimensions on life satisfaction (LS), mediated through both domain-specific satisfactions are also examined to understand which domain satisfaction elicits major impact on LS. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modeling analysis was conducted on questionnaire data obtained from 212 fulltime journalists working in top ten dailies of Punjab, India. Parallel multiple mediated regression was used to estimate specific indirect effects caused by each of the two parallel mediators (job satisfaction (JS) and family satisfaction (FS)). Findings Results illustrate that both dimensions of work-family conflict strongly decreased satisfaction of an originating domain than satisfaction of the receiving domain while both dimensions of work-family facilitation increased satisfaction of both the domains on equal basis. Results further reveal that the effect of work-family conflict and facilitation dimensions on LS is indirect rather than direct. On comparison of specific indirect effects results demonstrate that only originating domain satisfaction act as a mediator to work-family conflict and LS relationship, while both JS and FS act as mediators to work-family facilitation and LS relationship. Practical implications Media organizations can offer interventions like family friendly policies, overtime pay, more autonomy, work rewards and skill variety, so that employees’ workplace resource reservoir can be strongly built up to meet future work and family demands. In this way, positive intrusion from work-to-family takes place, which leads to more JS and FS and in turn increased overall LS. Originality/value The study removes inconsistency regarding pattern of work-family conflict and facilitation outcomes by testing a comprehensive model that integrates originating domain, receiving-domain and domain-nonspecific outcomes.

Shamanism within a general theory of religious action (no cheesecake needed)

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Psychology Of Religion ◽  
General Term ◽  
Evolutionary Constraints ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
The Creation

AbstractSingh places the understanding of shamanism within the cognitive/evolutionary psychology of religion but is then sidetracked by presenting unhelpful analogies. The concepts of “superstition” as a general term for religious rituals and of “superstitious learning” as a mechanism accounting for the creation of rituals in humans reflect an underestimation of the human imagination, which is guided by cognitive/evolutionary constraints. Mentalizing, hypervigilance in agent detection, and anthropomorphism explain the behaviors involved in religious illusions (or delusions).

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