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Is religion adaptive?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 June 2005

Richard Sosis  and
Candace Alcorta
Richard Sosis*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT06269-2176http://www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/sosis/
Candace Alcorta*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT06269-2176http://www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/sosis/
*
[email protected]
[email protected]
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Abstract:

We argue that religious ritual's ability to facilitate communication and the pervasiveness of its basic characteristics across societies, as well as its precedence in other social species, suggests that religious behavior is more than a mere by-product. Religious constructs constitute associationally conditioned mnemonics that trigger neuroendocrine responses which motivate religious behaviors. The adaptive value of these constructs resides in their utility as memorable and emotionally evocative primes.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 27 , Issue 6 , December 2004 , pp. 749 - 750
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2004

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