Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies
The emergence of large-scale cooperation during the Holocene remains a central problem in the evolutionary literature. One hypothesis points to culturally evolved beliefs in punishing, interventionist gods that facilitate the extension of cooperative behaviour toward geographically distant co-religi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Royal Society
2019
|
| _version_ | 1797086967952834560 |
|---|---|
| author | Lang, M Purzycki, BG Apicella, CL Atkinson, QD Bolyanatz, A Cohen, E Handley, C Klocová, E Lesorogol, C Mathew, S McNamara, RA Moya, C Placek, CD Soler, M Vardy, T Weigel, JL Willard, AK Xygalatas, D Norenzayan, A Henrich, J |
| author_facet | Lang, M Purzycki, BG Apicella, CL Atkinson, QD Bolyanatz, A Cohen, E Handley, C Klocová, E Lesorogol, C Mathew, S McNamara, RA Moya, C Placek, CD Soler, M Vardy, T Weigel, JL Willard, AK Xygalatas, D Norenzayan, A Henrich, J |
| author_sort | Lang, M |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The emergence of large-scale cooperation during the Holocene remains a central problem in the evolutionary literature. One hypothesis points to culturally evolved beliefs in punishing, interventionist gods that facilitate the extension of cooperative behaviour toward geographically distant co-religionists. Furthermore, another hypothesis points to such mechanisms being constrained to the religious ingroup, possibly at the expense of religious outgroups. To test these hypotheses, we administered two behavioural experiments and a set of interviews to a sample of 2228 participants from 15 diverse populations. These populations included foragers, pastoralists, horticulturalists, and wage labourers, practicing Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, but also forms of animism and ancestor worship. Using the Random Allocation Game (RAG) and the Dictator Game (DG) in which individuals allocated money between themselves, local and geographically distant co-religionists, and religious outgroups, we found that higher ratings of gods as monitoring and punishing predicted decreased local favouritism (RAGs) and increased resource-sharing with distant co-religionists (DGs). The effects of punishing and monitoring gods on outgroup allocations revealed between-site variability, suggesting that in the absence of intergroup hostility, moralizing gods may be implicated in cooperative behaviour toward outgroups. These results provide support for the hypothesis that beliefs in monitoring and punitive gods help expand the circle of sustainable social interaction, and open questions about the treatment of religious outgroups. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:29:25Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:a6b9aedb-9766-492b-8ced-2b8e5d0c4db8 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:29:25Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Royal Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:a6b9aedb-9766-492b-8ced-2b8e5d0c4db82022-03-27T02:49:22ZMoralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societiesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:a6b9aedb-9766-492b-8ced-2b8e5d0c4db8EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordRoyal Society2019Lang, MPurzycki, BGApicella, CLAtkinson, QDBolyanatz, ACohen, EHandley, CKlocová, ELesorogol, CMathew, SMcNamara, RAMoya, CPlacek, CDSoler, MVardy, TWeigel, JLWillard, AKXygalatas, DNorenzayan, AHenrich, JThe emergence of large-scale cooperation during the Holocene remains a central problem in the evolutionary literature. One hypothesis points to culturally evolved beliefs in punishing, interventionist gods that facilitate the extension of cooperative behaviour toward geographically distant co-religionists. Furthermore, another hypothesis points to such mechanisms being constrained to the religious ingroup, possibly at the expense of religious outgroups. To test these hypotheses, we administered two behavioural experiments and a set of interviews to a sample of 2228 participants from 15 diverse populations. These populations included foragers, pastoralists, horticulturalists, and wage labourers, practicing Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, but also forms of animism and ancestor worship. Using the Random Allocation Game (RAG) and the Dictator Game (DG) in which individuals allocated money between themselves, local and geographically distant co-religionists, and religious outgroups, we found that higher ratings of gods as monitoring and punishing predicted decreased local favouritism (RAGs) and increased resource-sharing with distant co-religionists (DGs). The effects of punishing and monitoring gods on outgroup allocations revealed between-site variability, suggesting that in the absence of intergroup hostility, moralizing gods may be implicated in cooperative behaviour toward outgroups. These results provide support for the hypothesis that beliefs in monitoring and punitive gods help expand the circle of sustainable social interaction, and open questions about the treatment of religious outgroups. |
| spellingShingle | Lang, M Purzycki, BG Apicella, CL Atkinson, QD Bolyanatz, A Cohen, E Handley, C Klocová, E Lesorogol, C Mathew, S McNamara, RA Moya, C Placek, CD Soler, M Vardy, T Weigel, JL Willard, AK Xygalatas, D Norenzayan, A Henrich, J Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies |
| title | Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies |
| title_full | Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies |
| title_fullStr | Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies |
| title_short | Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies |
| title_sort | moralizing gods impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT langm moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT purzyckibg moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT apicellacl moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT atkinsonqd moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT bolyanatza moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT cohene moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT handleyc moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT klocovae moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT lesorogolc moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT mathews moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT mcnamarara moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT moyac moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT placekcd moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT solerm moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT vardyt moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT weigeljl moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT willardak moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT xygalatasd moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT norenzayana moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies AT henrichj moralizinggodsimpartialityandreligiousparochialismacross15societies |