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Credibility, credulity, and redistribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2016

Hugo A. Viciana ,
Claude Loverdo  and
Antoni Gomila
Hugo A. Viciana
Affiliation:
Human Cognition and Evolution Group, Associated Unit to IFISC (CSIC-UIB), Campus Carretera Valldemossa, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. [email protected]@uib.cathttp://www.evocog.org
Claude Loverdo
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Jean Perrin. CNRS-Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 75252 Paris, Cedex 05, France. [email protected]
Antoni Gomila
Affiliation:
Human Cognition and Evolution Group, Associated Unit to IFISC (CSIC-UIB), Campus Carretera Valldemossa, 07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain. [email protected]@uib.cathttp://www.evocog.org
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Abstract

After raising some doubts for cultural group selection as an explanation of prosocial religiosity, we propose an alternative that views it as a “greenbeard effect.” We combine the dynamic constraints on the evolution of greenbeard effects with Iannaccone's (1994) account of strict sects. Our model shows that certain social conditions may foster credulity and prosociality.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e25
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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