scholarly journals Supernatural punishment beliefs as manipulated explanations of misfortune

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léo Fitouchi ◽  
Manvir Singh
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Strategic Interactions ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cultural Adaptations ◽  
Intergroup Competition ◽  
Threatening Information ◽  
Epistemic Vigilance ◽  
Supernatural Punishment

Why do humans develop beliefs apparently well-suited to promote prosociality, such as beliefs in moralistic supernatural punishment? Leading hypotheses regard such beliefs to be group-level cultural adaptations, shaped by intergroup competition to facilitate cooperation. We present a complementary model in which cognitive mechanisms and strategic interactions produce and stabilize such beliefs. People incentivize others’ cooperation through behaviors such as punishment, moralistic narratives, and, we suggest, claims of supernatural punishment. These overcome mechanisms of epistemic vigilance by posing as explanations of misfortune and containing threatening information, as well as potentially appealing to justice intuitions and aligning with signaling incentives. Explaining religious belief requires considering both people’s motivations to invest in the production of supernatural narratives and the reasons others adopt them.

Buckets of steam and left-handed hammers. The fool’s errand as a signal of epistemic and coalitional dominance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radu Umbres
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Coalition Building ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Left Handed ◽  
Epistemic Vigilance ◽  
Epistemic Asymmetry ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Strategic Signaling

In various professional groups, experts send rookies on absurd tasks as a prank. The fool’s errand appears in factories and hospitals, in elite schools and scout camps, among soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Why are newcomers deceived and humiliated and why are fool’s errands similar in structure despite various contexts and remarkably persistent over time? Here I propose that the cultural success of this social institution and its recurrent features across history and cultures are based on evolved cognitive mechanisms activated by apprenticeship as social learning and group induction. I will show that evolved mechanisms of epistemic vigilance explain how novices are reliably deceived by experts using opaque statements erroneously perceived as pedagogical. Furthermore, evolved capacities for coalition building explain why insiders use the prank as strategic signaling of hierarchies based on epistemic asymmetry. The intersection of cognitive mechanisms and patterns of professional recruitment create a tradition where insiders coordinate to humiliate newcomers to assert epistemic and coalitional dominance.

scholarly journals Relative deprivation and intergroup competition

2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 685-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nir Halevy ◽  
Eileen Y. Chou ◽  
Taya R. Cohen ◽  
Gary Bornstein
Keyword(s):  
Relative Deprivation ◽  
Prisoner’S Dilemma ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Destructive Behavior ◽  
Intergroup Competition ◽  
Group Outcomes ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Collective Efficiency ◽  
Individual Participation

Two experiments utilized a new experimental paradigm—the Intergroup Prisoner’s Dilemma— Maximizing Difference (IPD-MD) game—to study how relative deprivation at the group level affects intergroup competition. The IPD-MD game enables group members to make a costly contribution to either a within-group pool that benefits fellow ingroup members, or a between-group pool, which, in addition, harms outgroup members. We found that when group members were put in a disadvantaged position, either by previous actions of the outgroup (Experiment 1) or by random misfortune (Experiment 2), they contributed substantially more to the competitive between-group pool. This destructive behavior both minimized inequality between the groups and reduced collective efficiency. Our results underscore the conditions that lead group members to care about relative (rather than absolute) group outcomes and highlight the need to differentiate between the motivation to get ahead and the motivation not to fall behind: the latter, it appears, is what motivates individual participation in destructive intergroup competition.

scholarly journals Emotional bonds: Bridging the gap between evolutionary and humanistic accounts of religious belief

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-28
Author(s):  
Léon Turner
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cognitive Science Of Religion ◽  
Evolutionary Account ◽  
Emotional Bonds ◽  
Pluralistic Approach ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Broad Consensus

Recent years have seen a growing willingness in the evolutionary cognitive science of religion (ECSR) to embrace an inclusive, theoretically pluralistic approach and the emergence of a broad consensus around some key themes that collectively constitute a central theoretical core of the field. Nevertheless, ECSR still raises serious problems for some in the humanities. In exploring the reasons for the perception of conflict between humanistic and cognitive evolutionary approaches to religion, I suggest that both ECSR’s default account of the origins of religion and religion’s role in social bonding rely upon notions of culturally unmediated universal cognitive mechanisms that preclude alternative humanistic explanations. I subsequently suggest that the gap between humanistic approaches and the evolutionary study of religion more broadly conceived may be narrowed by further expanding ECSR to include recent research into the brain opioid theory of social attachment (BOTSA), which emphasises the emotional rather than cognitive basis of religion’s social bonding functions. Finally, I outline a possible evolutionary account of the earliest forms of religious ideas and practices, which decouples the origins of religion from the evolution of specialised cognitive machinery and which humanists are likely to find more amenable than mainstream ECSR.

scholarly journals Belief, Belonging, or Both? The Interaction Between Supernatural Belief and Identity Fusion, and their Influence on Cooperative Behaviour

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Samuel Twitchin
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cooperative Behaviour ◽  
Mixed Methods Design ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Identity Fusion ◽  
Supernatural Punishment

<p>Research within the psychology of religion has illustrated the importance of both religious belief and religious belonging for facilitating cooperative behaviour. Specifically, the supernatural punishment hypothesis (Johnson, 2016; Johnson & Krüger, 2004) and identity fusion (Swann et al., 2009; Whitehouse, 2018) discuss belief and belonging, respectively. This thesis examines the connection of these two areas, with a focus on the understudied religious concept of karma. In Study 1, 193 participants took part in an online questionnaire, with a five-condition between subjects design, that investigated the content of religious belief by using karma and god related religious priming stimuli (images and vignettes) to influence individual’s belief. None of the four experimental conditions were found to change responses on belief in supernatural agents or karma. Belief in god/karma was associated with endorsement of both a punitive and benevolent god/karma. However, when both endorsements were included in the model, only benevolent endorsement was significant. In Study 2, 402 participants took part in a three-condition mixed-methods design with six repeated trials of a voluntary contribution task, which investigated how karma and god related religious priming stimuli (vignettes) influenced cooperative behaviour. Mixed methods analysis revealed that those in the karma condition had higher cooperative tendencies than those in the neutral condition, but did not differ from the god condition. Belief in supernatural agents did not affect how individuals were affected by the god condition. However, those with higher belief in supernatural agents and higher identity fusion were the least cooperative within the karma condition. Contrary to what was predicted, increased belief in karma predicted un-cooperative behaviour in the karma condition. These and other important findings are discussed with focus on the New Zealand context and how the findings from this thesis contributes to the supernatural punishment and identity fusion literature, by highlighting implications, limitations, and areas of focus for future research.</p>

The Role of Culture in Evolutionary Theories of Human Cooperation

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-190
Author(s):  
Hector Qirko
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Group Norms ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Intergroup Competition ◽  
Novel Environments

Abstract Evolutionarily-minded scholars working on the most puzzling aspects of human cooperation-one-shot, anonymous interactions among non-kin where reputational information is not available-can be roughly divided into two camps. In the first, researchers argue for the existence of evolved capacities for genuinely altruistic human cooperation, and in their models emphasize the role of intergroup competition and selection, as well as group norms and markers of membership that reduce intragroup variability. Researchers in the second camp explain cooperation in terms of individual-level decision-making facilitated by evolved cognitive mechanisms associated with well-established self- and kin-maximization models, as well as by ‘misfires’ that may result from these mechanisms interacting with novel environments. This essay argues that the manner in which culture provides information that de-anonymizes intragroup strangers suggests that neither evolved capacities for genuine altruism nor widespread misfires are necessary to account for anonymous, one-shot cooperation.

scholarly journals Knowledge and the Objection to Religious Belief from Cognitive Science

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly James Clark ◽  
Dani Rabinowitz
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Short Discussion ◽  
Theistic Belief

A large chorus of voices has grown around the claim that theistic belief is epistemically suspect since, as some cognitive scientists have hypothesized, such beliefs are a byproduct of cognitive mechanisms which evolved for rather different adaptive purposes. This paper begins with an overview of the pertinent cognitive science followed by a short discussion of some relevant epistemic concepts. Working from within a largely Williamsonian framework, we then present two different ways in which this research can be formulated into an argument against theistic belief. We argue that neither version works. 

Psychology and groups at the junction of genes and culture

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 819-821 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linnda R. Caporael
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognitive ◽  
The Self ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Disciplinary Expertise

Replacements for the self-interest axiom may posit weak to strong theories of sociality. Strong sociality may be useful for positing social cognitive mechanisms and their evolution, but weak sociality may work better for identifying interesting group-level outcomes by focusing on deviations from self-interested psychological assumptions. Such theoretical differences are likely to be based on disciplinary expertise, and the challenge for Darwinian integration is to keep the conversation flowing.

scholarly journals Dynamic cognitive flexibility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Imburgio ◽  
Joseph M Orr
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Current Work ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Significant Group ◽  
Switch Rate ◽  
Time Accuracy ◽  
Future Work

Cognitive flexibility, or the ability to flexibly switch between different task sets, is often operationalized using performance on voluntary task switching (VTS) paradigms. In VTS paradigms, performance is commonly measured by examining reaction time, accuracy, the effects of switching tasks on reaction time and accuracy, and the rate at which participants choose to switch tasks. Previous literature has frequently examined these measures in terms of overall task averages. Instead, the current work examines whether these measures change during task performance, as well as the degree to which individual differences in these changes might inform individual differences in external measures. A series of three experiments, two of which utilized publicly available datasets from previous publications, examined changes in these measures throughout the performance of different VTS paradigms administered by different labs. In the first two experiments, significant group-level declines in switch rates were present, consistent with increased effort avoidance and early fatigue effects. In the third experiment, no such decline was present at a group level; however, subject-level changes in switch rates were related to scores on BIS/BAS subscales, while subject average switch rates were not. The current work suggests that examining changes in switch rates throughout a task might provide valuable information not captured by average switch rates that future VTS studies might wish to explore. Future work should attempt to clarify the conditions in which group-level declines in switch rate can be produced as well as which cognitive mechanisms might underlie these declines.

scholarly journals Belief, Belonging, or Both? The Interaction Between Supernatural Belief and Identity Fusion, and their Influence on Cooperative Behaviour

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Samuel Twitchin
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cooperative Behaviour ◽  
Mixed Methods Design ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Belief In God ◽  
Identity Fusion ◽  
Supernatural Punishment

<p>Research within the psychology of religion has illustrated the importance of both religious belief and religious belonging for facilitating cooperative behaviour. Specifically, the supernatural punishment hypothesis (Johnson, 2016; Johnson & Krüger, 2004) and identity fusion (Swann et al., 2009; Whitehouse, 2018) discuss belief and belonging, respectively. This thesis examines the connection of these two areas, with a focus on the understudied religious concept of karma. In Study 1, 193 participants took part in an online questionnaire, with a five-condition between subjects design, that investigated the content of religious belief by using karma and god related religious priming stimuli (images and vignettes) to influence individual’s belief. None of the four experimental conditions were found to change responses on belief in supernatural agents or karma. Belief in god/karma was associated with endorsement of both a punitive and benevolent god/karma. However, when both endorsements were included in the model, only benevolent endorsement was significant. In Study 2, 402 participants took part in a three-condition mixed-methods design with six repeated trials of a voluntary contribution task, which investigated how karma and god related religious priming stimuli (vignettes) influenced cooperative behaviour. Mixed methods analysis revealed that those in the karma condition had higher cooperative tendencies than those in the neutral condition, but did not differ from the god condition. Belief in supernatural agents did not affect how individuals were affected by the god condition. However, those with higher belief in supernatural agents and higher identity fusion were the least cooperative within the karma condition. Contrary to what was predicted, increased belief in karma predicted un-cooperative behaviour in the karma condition. These and other important findings are discussed with focus on the New Zealand context and how the findings from this thesis contributes to the supernatural punishment and identity fusion literature, by highlighting implications, limitations, and areas of focus for future research.</p>

The bottleneck may be the solution, not the problem

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnon Lotem ◽  
Oren Kolodny ◽  
Joseph Y. Halpern ◽  
Luca Onnis ◽  
Shimon Edelman
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Biological Trait ◽  
Memory Bottleneck

AbstractAs a highly consequential biological trait, a memory “bottleneck” cannot escape selection pressures. It must therefore co-evolve with other cognitive mechanisms rather than act as an independent constraint. Recent theory and an implemented model of language acquisition suggest that a limit on working memory may evolve to help learning. Furthermore, it need not hamper the use of language for communication.

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