Evolutionary Forms of the Religious Life(Sanderson and Roberts) (2008)

Previous research Swanson (1960) argued that the presence

of a high god will be related to the number of hierarchically

organized sovereign groups a society possesses

This is an idea that takes on a personified aspect in order to

maintain order among the sovereign groups.

2 sovereign groups 11 percent had a high god , 3 groups 78

percent had a high god 4 plus groups 91 percent had a high god.
As societies became more complex and technologically advanced

their belief in a moralizing high god increased.

As societies became more complex and moved towards
agricultural societs they were less likely to have shamanistic

views
William Irons (1991) suggested that moral gods arose in socially
stratified societies in order to put down the general populous

while promoting the power of the elite

Roes and Raymond (2003) and Alexander (1987) hypothesized
that moralizing gods emerged in correlation with an increase in
societal size and population when they encounter new problems
and need to learn how to deal with solving them with the

compliance of a large population

Sanderson and Roberts found that Swansons hypothesis in
regards to the increase of high gods being related to the number
of organized sovereign groups holds up in the study more than
the other hypotheses weakly in the binary table.

Stage of Religious Evolution in this study the hypothesis that

was most supported was Alexanders in regards to the increase

in total population and a higher stage of religious development

When societies see an increase in population, technology , and
writing skills they experience higher stages of religious

development
Sanderson and Roberts explored the relationship with
subsistence economy and found that shamanic religions
occurred in foraging societies, communal religions were found in

agricultural societies in relations to seasonal cycles

In regards to societal size the population threshold for a
monotheistic religion is 1 million people brought about due to

new problems arising from urban life.

Subsistance technologies played a major role in the evolution of
religions
-Parameters for the rise of moralizing gods
- why moralizing gods are needed
-cooperation
-moralizing aspect
-costly actions
- rituals
-spirits, ancestreal worship, shamans
The evolution of costly displays cooperation and religion Joseph
Henrich (2009)
Credibility Enhancing Displays some costly acts can lead
to group benefits. Doing something for a moralizing god
such as charity enhances credibility and is beneficial to the

group.
Punishing noncooperators

Rituals that encourage cultural learning to cause

adherence to beliefs and ideas that increase group unity

are favored by competition

Groups that have rituals that successfully transmit
commitment to ideas that will benefit the entire group will
have a better evolutionary fitness than those who have

rituals that are less effective

Using the ideas of prestige-bias transmission and
conformist tradition causes the leaders and main
contributors of the lessons of belief to elder members of

the group
Has practices that show the level of commitment to the
belief (rituals, painful experiences (increases aspect of

community shows devotion))

Participating in rituals that involve costly acts are pertinent
to enforcing commitment and have more power than
secular ideas. Secular ideas can be proven untrue easily
and do not require the same amount of devotion. Once
religious beliefs are committed to, and through the pain of
costly act and ritual this devotion has more of staying
power, they can encourage group cooperation more than

secular ideas.
These credibility enhancing displays help us to use rituals
to take advantage of our capacity to learning to bolster
commitments to belief that are favored by selection.

New Guinea Highlands use frightening rituals to gain group

commitment that eventually promotes identity and a more
successful group ----- in areas where there are multiple
groups there is increased warfare and with this comes
costly rites to prepare boys for war which encourages

cooperation to cause survival .

In a study done by Sosis and Ruffle they found that costly
ritual increases commitment to cooperation. In a study
done in kibbutz they foud that when given a monetary sum
more people contributed to the communal pot if they had
gone to more group rituals

Supernaturalizing social life--- Matt J. Rossano (2007)

Ancestor worship, shamainsim, spirits and the Upper Paleolithic

causing an advancement of social cooperation through social

scrutiny through the eyes of moralizing spiritual monitors .

More fitnesss gains from involvement in an altruist group
When people know that they are being watched they will act

more honorably (especially in men)

Reducing selfishnes through punishing defection but with a low

cost
IN large groups for altruism to occur there needs to be idea of

indirect reciprocity that require punishment

Moralizing gods, spirits and ancestral worship provides this

aspect
We punish those who disrupt group cooperation

supernaturalizing social pressure may have been one of the

strategies that tipped the balance against individual selfishness,

thus permitting uniquely human levels of cooperation to emerge

groups with a strong social pressure have an advantage and the
extension of this towards the supernatural creates a new level of

cooperation
in large groups punishment is required, the use of a supernatural
force can best maintain the norms and control the a larger

population
The rise of religion can be seen in the Upper Paleolithic where
more advanced tool use, hunting strategies , larger group sizes
with varied internal social groups and political organization

emerged
Durkheim 1965 -providing divine authority for social norms
The supernatural life was seen as an extension to human social

life
Ancestor worship through religion provides an additional watchful

source so that humans can adhere to social norms

First cases of ancestral worship seen in the Upper Paleolithic

through archeological evidence of intential burial .

The upper Paleolithic saw an increase in complexity of hunter
gathering which used more advanced technology which led to a

more sedentary lifestyle and social stratification

Stratification seen through burial sites of ancestors , more

resources to protect
The elite referenced ancestors in the supernatural realm as
credibility for their land and resources

Ancestor worship, especially with spiritual significance, may in

the eyes of the population( for example the Kwaio in the
Solomon Islands) effect the spiritual climate and be the
difference between a good and bad year in terms of harvest,
fertility etc. Because of this the population will avoid committing
acts that would go against these ancestors and thus maintain

social norms .
Ancestors are connected to the land and must be appeased
because of this. They help to deter from committing social
taboos that may upset them and may be seen as being able to

provide protection.
One of the oldest aspects of religious activity is shamanism
where on connects with the spirits in another world through

entering an altered mind set.

Shamans are called prior to important community outings or
during a time of strife within the community and create a sense
of unity and protection. The Shaman due to their connection to
the spiritual world have garnered a sense of ethos. Through their
connection to the spirits they can maintain and attach
supernatural pressure to social norms further increasing the

cohesiveness of a community.
Animal spirits, as evidenced in the archeological record in the Les
Trois-Freres and Chauvet caves haves specific caves for specific
animal spirits.

Most noticeably spirits provide social pressure and authority

towards social norms for the protection of resources and social

taboos against its exploitation

The Itza Maya in Gualtemala believe that the spirits are
intertwined with all of the creatures and plants of the forest.
They believe that these spirits take the role of protector of these
resources. So if someone violates these creatures and
mismanages their resources they must speak to a higher power.
This belief may provide greater skills of resource management
that would increase the fitness of the population and enforce

norms to control the population.

These shared religious beliefs can increase cooperation among

competing communities over shared resources

Native Americans around the Klameth River perform rituals to
indicate the harvesting season to deter from one group
dominating the others resources. Those who went against these
rituals faced consequences from the spiritual world which would
spell dastardly consequences for the group. These norms in
regards to resource protection that had the increased power of
spiritual authority led to the maintenance of species of fish that
populated the river even though the groups of Native Americans
had the capability to consume the entire population. Currently
without these social norms in place (among other reasons), 30
species of salmon in the area are endangered.

Ritual, Emotions and Sacred Symbols (The Evolution of Religion as an

Adaptive Complex) Alcort and Sosis (2005)
Children have a natural tendency to believe in supernatural beings.
Religion has many counterintuitive aspects that go against the
natural order of things (i.e talking totems). These violations of the
natural order are memorable due to divergence from the norm, which
makes it easier for them to be transmitted. These counterintuitive
aspects of religion are difficult to recreate. Most people if they heard
something contradictory to nature would mentally change the idea to
something natural that they were more used to. So these spiritual and
counterintuitive rituals need to be learned, through oral transmission
and thus encouraging religious ritual and involves group membership.
-

Costly religious ritual provides a reliable mechanism for

minimizing free-riding and maximizing cooperation

positive reactions to emotions release dopamine
Responses from the Amygdala which arise from fear create a
greater response then positive stimuli. Recognizes facial

reactions
Religious ritual elicits both positive and negative stimuli
especially through the use of music and rhythm. The fearful
elements of religion, through intense drumming, frightful masks
create an emotional response to danger especially in the cases
of rights of passage. Religious objects and rituals are now
intertwined with deep emotional experience and the gods and

spirits now have emotional significance from the communal ritual

with a shared experience of emotion and now have more of a
motivational effect.

Richerson and Boyd(1998) Through religions positive impact on

cooperation and increasing communication in early human populations
it helped to solve an ecological problem.

Durkheim (1969): Religion helps to maintain social order

Adaptation, Evolution, and Religion

There are two prominent theories in regard to humans and religion.

The nonadaptionist point of view concedes that humans have the
cerebral capacity for religious beliefs and religious ideas have built on
other adaptions. The adaptionist point of view places emphasis on the
cohesive social benefits of religion.

By Product ( Nonadaptionis theories)

Boyer (2001) and Atran (2002) believe that religious beliefs emerged
from our tendency to define the agency of things (to detect other

predators, or objects around them and their purpose and reason of

existence. They argue that religion emerges from our previous
cognitive adaptation to find ways to detect predators and the
environment around them. Humans manifest a religious aspect through
attributing reasons to such things as the sun and the moon and other
forces through supernatural explanation.

Kirkpatrick- argues that religious tendencies and beliefs in the

supernatural are extensions of the bond between parent and child to
provide a sense of security.
Neither believe that religion assists in selection but are by-products of
adaptive agents
Adaptionists
Sosis- costly religious rituals are important because they are hard to
fake and encourage community through commitment to a communal
emotional hardship felt by the ritual. Those who participate in costly
ritual and develop strong beliefs through their obvious display of
commitment are less likely to find these rituals as a burden; This
display of commitment induces trust.

Importance of shamanism as an adaption (Winklemen 2000)

Roles: finding game, predicting the future, healing , connecting with
supernatural. Shamanism or similar roles are found across cultures

during the hunter-gathering period and throughout time. This suggests

as shared an underlying psychobiological basis. Shamans worldwide
share the characteristics of rituals involving chanting, rhythm and
drums. Shamanism appeared so ubiquitously in hunter gathering
communities because the altered states of consciousness align with
the ecological and social structure of these societies. These altered
states arise naturally from variables of extreme fatigue, injury , lack of
energy . Etc

Shamans do not provide healing power but can help psychologically

-religion promotes greater the amount of offspring
1.
o
o
o

Winkelman, 2000
M.J. Winkelman
Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing

Bergin & Garvey, Westport, CT (2000)

Evolutionary Perspectives on Religion

Boyer and Bergstrom 2008

Costly religious rituals provide signaling especially from painful rites of

passage and initiation rites. Due to the formal and public nature of the
rituals the pride and commitment that people display towards their
beliefs are viewable by the rest of the community.

Morality from religion adds a spiritual aspect a god or an ancestor have

an omnipresent view that allows believes to feel like a belief in a
supernatural being could represent how our actions effect other from a
third party perspective.

From the non-adaptive perspective, ritualization arises from the

humans minds disposition to retain patterns that grab the attention
(through colors, masks, dances) and that may be associated with
invisible danger.

Darwins Cathedral Wilson:

but as itself aproduct of evolution that enables groups to function as
adaptive units-at least to a degree (6)
explaining religious groups as an adaptive unit in terms of evolutionary
theory is hard because the importance of sharing is difficult to be
transformed into biological currency as reproduction and survival are.

Belief in moralizing gods (Roes , Raymond 2003)

Roes and Raymond based suggest that there is a positive correlation

between society size and belief in moralizing gods. They base this
hypothesis on Alexander (1987) that humans moved to large group
sizes as groups began to compete in more plentiful environments so
that the larger group would persist against the smaller weaker group.
(Large groups provided protection, cooperative hunting, sharing of
resources and information,)

(with larger group sizes there is increased violence and instance of

war)

when groups increase in size there is an increased chance that the

group will splinter apart due to internal conflicts . So there needs to be
moralizing component to keep groups cohesive.
This moralizing components needs to be unbiased and not allow
uneven profit among group members so the moralizing job needs to go
to an impartial omniscient god who does not hold ulterior motives. The
moralizing god also takes on an immortal aspect so that these rules
and norms have greater staying power and can last through multiple
generations.
Using variables from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample of
ethnographies using the variables High Gods, Jurisdictional
Hierarchy beyond local community for society size, Resource base,

External conflict, Internal conflict. Roes and Raymond found a positive

correlation between society size and belief moralizing gods.

The Biology of Religion: A Darwinian Gospel Bjrn Grinde, Journal of

Social and Evolutionary Systems (21)1:19-28 (1998) JAI Press, Inc.
-

the universal aspect of religion, crossing numerous cultures

suggest the innate attraction towards religiosity

in humans
Adaptive advantages to religion- some groups of aboriginals cite
the will of the spirits for their logical (circular movement change
of campsite that coordinates with the changing of the seasons

instead of citing the need to find in season food.

Power of the spirits enhances logical decisions.
Belief in spirits unites the population behind logical rules and
traditions