PURZYCKI, Benjamin, Aiyana WILLARD, Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ, Coren APICELLA, Quentin ATKINSON, Alex BOLYANATZ, Emma COHEN, Carla HANDLEY, Joseph HENRICH, Martin LANG, Carolyn LESOGOROL, Sarah MATHEW, Rita MCNAMARA, Cristina MOYA, Ara NORENZAYAN, Caitlyn D PLACEK, Monserrat SOLER, Thomas VARDY, Jonathan WEIGEL, Dimitris XYGALATAS and Cody ROSS. The moralization bias of gods’ minds : a cross-cultural test. Religion, Brain & Behavior. ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2022, vol. 12, 1-2, p. 38-60. ISSN 2153-599X. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006291.
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Basic information
Original name The moralization bias of gods’ minds : a cross-cultural test
Authors PURZYCKI, Benjamin (840 United States of America), Aiyana WILLARD (124 Canada), Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution), Coren APICELLA (840 United States of America), Quentin ATKINSON (554 New Zealand), Alex BOLYANATZ (840 United States of America), Emma COHEN (826 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Carla HANDLEY (840 United States of America), Joseph HENRICH (840 United States of America), Martin LANG (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Carolyn LESOGOROL (840 United States of America), Sarah MATHEW (840 United States of America), Rita MCNAMARA (840 United States of America), Cristina MOYA (840 United States of America), Ara NORENZAYAN (840 United States of America), Caitlyn D PLACEK (840 United States of America), Monserrat SOLER (840 United States of America), Thomas VARDY (826 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Jonathan WEIGEL (840 United States of America), Dimitris XYGALATAS (300 Greece) and Cody ROSS (840 United States of America).
Edition Religion, Brain & Behavior, ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2022, 2153-599X.
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Article in a journal
Field of Study 60304 Religious studies
Country of publisher United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW URL
Impact factor Impact factor: 2.200
RIV identification code RIV/00216224:14210/22:00125647
Organization unit Faculty of Arts
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006291
UT WoS 000778745700004
Keywords in English Supernatural punishment; morality; gods’ minds; cognitive science of religion
Tags rivok
Tags International impact, Reviewed
Changed by Changed by: Mgr. Ivona Vrzalová, učo 361753. Changed: 13/2/2023 15:03.
Abstract
There are compelling reasons to expect that cognitively representing any active, powerful deity motivates cooperative behavior. One mechanism underlying this association could be a cognitive bias toward generally attributing moral concern to anthropomorphic agents. If humans cognitively represent the minds of deities and humans in the same way, and if human agents are generally conceptualized as having moral concern, a broad tendency to attribute moral concern—a “moralization bias”—to supernatural deities follows. Using data from 2,228 individuals in 15 different field sites, we test for the existence of such a bias. We find that people are indeed more likely than chance to indicate that local deities care about punishing theft, murder, and deceit. This effect is stable even after holding beliefs about explicitly moralistic deities constant. Additionally, we take a close look at data collected among Hadza foragers and find two of their deities to be morally interested. There is no evidence to suggest that this effect is due to direct missionary contact. We posit that the “moralization bias of gods’ minds” is part of a widespread but variable religious phenotype, and a candidate mechanism that contributes to the well-recognized association between religion and cooperation.
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