Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T00:47:16.827Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The evolutionary social psychology of religious beliefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2005

Lee A. Kirkpatrick
Lee A. Kirkpatrick*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA23187-8795http://faculty.wm.edu/lakirk
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Atran & Norenzayan (A&N) are correct that religion is an evolutionary by-product, not an adaptation, but they do not go far enough. Once supernatural beliefs are enabled by processes they describe, numerous social-cognitive mechanisms related to attachment, social exchange, coalitional psychology, status and dominance, and kinship are crucial for explaining the specific forms religion takes and individual and cultural differences therein.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 27 , Issue 6 , December 2004 , pp. 741
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)