RT Article
T1 The moralization bias of gods’ minds: a cross-cultural test
JF Religion, brain & behavior
VO 12
IS 1/2
SP 38
OP 60
A1 Purzycki, Benjamin Grant
A1 Willard, Aiyana K.
A1 Kundtová Klocová, Eva
A1 Apicella, Coren
A1 Atkinson, Quentin
A1 Bolyanatz, Alexander
A1 Cohen, Emma
A1 Handley, Carla
A1 Henrich, Joseph 1968-
A1 Lang, Martin
A1 Lesorogol, Carolyn K. 1965-
A1 Mathew, Sarah
A1 McNamara, Rita A.
A1 Moya, Cristina
A1 Norenzayan, Ara 1970-
A1 Placek, Caitlyn
A1 Soler, Montserrat
A1 Vardy, Tom
A1 Weigel, Jonathan 1986-
A1 Xygalatas, Dēmētrēs 1977-
A1 Ross, Cody T.
LA English
PB Routledge
YR 2022
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1797880098
AB 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.
K1 cognitive science of religion
K1 gods’ minds
K1 Morality
K1 supernatural punishment
DO 10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006291