Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies

Martin Lang; Benjamin G. Purzycki; Coren L. Apicella; Quentin D. Atkinson; Alexander Bolyanatz; Emma Cohen; Carla Handley; Eva Kundtova Klocova; Carolyn Lesorogol; Sarah Mathew; Rita A. McNamara; Cristina Moya; Caitlyn D. Placek; Montserrat Soler; Thomas Vardy; Jonathan L. Weigel; Aiyana K. Willard; Dimitris Xygalatas; Ara Norenzayan; Joseph Henrich

doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.0202

Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies

Martin Lang, Benjamin G. Purzycki, Coren L. Apicella, Quentin D. Atkinson, Alexander Bolyanatz, Emma Cohen, Carla Handley, Eva Kundtova Klocova, Carolyn Lesorogol, Sarah Mathew, Rita A. McNamara, Cristina Moya, Caitlyn D. Placek, Montserrat Soler, Thomas Vardy, Jonathan L. Weigel, Aiyana K. Willard, Dimitris Xygalatas, Ara Norenzayan, Joseph Henrich

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

The emergence of large-scale cooperation during the Holocene remains a central problem in the evolutionary literature. One hypothesis points to culturally evolved beliefs in punishing, interventionist gods that facilitate the extension of cooperative behaviour toward geographically distant coreligionists. Furthermore, another hypothesis points to such mechanisms being constrained to the religious ingroup, possibly at the expense of religious outgroups. To test these hypotheses, we administered two behavioural experiments and a set of interviews to a sample of 2228 participants from 15 diverse populations. These populations included foragers, pastoralists, horticulturalists, and wage labourers, practicing Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, but also forms of animism and ancestor worship. Using the Random Allocation Game (RAG) and the Dictator Game (DG) in which individuals allocated money between themselves, local and geographically distant co-religionists, and religious outgroups, we found that higher ratings of gods as monitoring and punishing predicted decreased local favouritism (RAGs) and increased resource-sharing with distant co-religionists (DGs). The effects of punishing and monitoring gods on out-group allocations revealed between-site variability, suggesting that in the absence of intergroup hostility, moralizing gods may be implicated in cooperative behaviour toward outgroups. These results provide support for the hypothesis that beliefs in monitoring and punitive gods help expand the circle of sustainable social interaction, and open questions about the treatment of religious outgroups.

Original language	English
Article number	20190202
Journal	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume	286
Issue	1898
Number of pages	10
ISSN	0962-8452
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0202
Publication status	Published - 6 Mar 2019
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

COEVOLUTION
EVOLUTION
SUPERNATURAL PUNISHMENT
cultural evolution
impartiality
parochialism
punishing gods
religion
supernatural punishment

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10.1098/rspb.2019.0202

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Lang, M., Purzycki, B. G., Apicella, C. L., Atkinson, Q. D., Bolyanatz, A., Cohen, E., Handley, C., Klocova, E. K., Lesorogol, C., Mathew, S., McNamara, R. A., Moya, C., Placek, C. D., Soler, M., Vardy, T., Weigel, J. L., Willard, A. K., Xygalatas, D., Norenzayan, A., & Henrich, J. (2019). Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1898), Article 20190202. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0202

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title = "Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies",

abstract = "The emergence of large-scale cooperation during the Holocene remains a central problem in the evolutionary literature. One hypothesis points to culturally evolved beliefs in punishing, interventionist gods that facilitate the extension of cooperative behaviour toward geographically distant coreligionists. Furthermore, another hypothesis points to such mechanisms being constrained to the religious ingroup, possibly at the expense of religious outgroups. To test these hypotheses, we administered two behavioural experiments and a set of interviews to a sample of 2228 participants from 15 diverse populations. These populations included foragers, pastoralists, horticulturalists, and wage labourers, practicing Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, but also forms of animism and ancestor worship. Using the Random Allocation Game (RAG) and the Dictator Game (DG) in which individuals allocated money between themselves, local and geographically distant co-religionists, and religious outgroups, we found that higher ratings of gods as monitoring and punishing predicted decreased local favouritism (RAGs) and increased resource-sharing with distant co-religionists (DGs). The effects of punishing and monitoring gods on out-group allocations revealed between-site variability, suggesting that in the absence of intergroup hostility, moralizing gods may be implicated in cooperative behaviour toward outgroups. These results provide support for the hypothesis that beliefs in monitoring and punitive gods help expand the circle of sustainable social interaction, and open questions about the treatment of religious outgroups.",

keywords = "COEVOLUTION, EVOLUTION, SUPERNATURAL PUNISHMENT, cultural evolution, impartiality, parochialism, punishing gods, religion, supernatural punishment",

author = "Martin Lang and Purzycki, {Benjamin G.} and Apicella, {Coren L.} and Atkinson, {Quentin D.} and Alexander Bolyanatz and Emma Cohen and Carla Handley and Klocova, {Eva Kundtova} and Carolyn Lesorogol and Sarah Mathew and McNamara, {Rita A.} and Cristina Moya and Placek, {Caitlyn D.} and Montserrat Soler and Thomas Vardy and Weigel, {Jonathan L.} and Willard, {Aiyana K.} and Dimitris Xygalatas and Ara Norenzayan and Joseph Henrich",

year = "2019",

month = mar,

day = "6",

doi = "10.1098/rspb.2019.0202",

language = "English",

volume = "286",

journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences",

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Lang, M, Purzycki, BG, Apicella, CL, Atkinson, QD, Bolyanatz, A, Cohen, E, Handley, C, Klocova, EK, Lesorogol, C, Mathew, S, McNamara, RA, Moya, C, Placek, CD, Soler, M, Vardy, T, Weigel, JL, Willard, AK, Xygalatas, D, Norenzayan, A & Henrich, J 2019, 'Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies', Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 286, no. 1898, 20190202. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0202

Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies. / Lang, Martin; Purzycki, Benjamin G.; Apicella, Coren L. et al.
In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 286, No. 1898, 20190202, 06.03.2019.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

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AU - Lang, Martin

AU - Purzycki, Benjamin G.

AU - Apicella, Coren L.

AU - Atkinson, Quentin D.

AU - Bolyanatz, Alexander

AU - Cohen, Emma

AU - Handley, Carla

AU - Klocova, Eva Kundtova

AU - Lesorogol, Carolyn

AU - Mathew, Sarah

AU - McNamara, Rita A.

AU - Moya, Cristina

AU - Placek, Caitlyn D.

AU - Soler, Montserrat

AU - Vardy, Thomas

AU - Weigel, Jonathan L.

AU - Willard, Aiyana K.

AU - Xygalatas, Dimitris

AU - Norenzayan, Ara

AU - Henrich, Joseph

PY - 2019/3/6

Y1 - 2019/3/6

N2 - The emergence of large-scale cooperation during the Holocene remains a central problem in the evolutionary literature. One hypothesis points to culturally evolved beliefs in punishing, interventionist gods that facilitate the extension of cooperative behaviour toward geographically distant coreligionists. Furthermore, another hypothesis points to such mechanisms being constrained to the religious ingroup, possibly at the expense of religious outgroups. To test these hypotheses, we administered two behavioural experiments and a set of interviews to a sample of 2228 participants from 15 diverse populations. These populations included foragers, pastoralists, horticulturalists, and wage labourers, practicing Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, but also forms of animism and ancestor worship. Using the Random Allocation Game (RAG) and the Dictator Game (DG) in which individuals allocated money between themselves, local and geographically distant co-religionists, and religious outgroups, we found that higher ratings of gods as monitoring and punishing predicted decreased local favouritism (RAGs) and increased resource-sharing with distant co-religionists (DGs). The effects of punishing and monitoring gods on out-group allocations revealed between-site variability, suggesting that in the absence of intergroup hostility, moralizing gods may be implicated in cooperative behaviour toward outgroups. These results provide support for the hypothesis that beliefs in monitoring and punitive gods help expand the circle of sustainable social interaction, and open questions about the treatment of religious outgroups.

AB - The emergence of large-scale cooperation during the Holocene remains a central problem in the evolutionary literature. One hypothesis points to culturally evolved beliefs in punishing, interventionist gods that facilitate the extension of cooperative behaviour toward geographically distant coreligionists. Furthermore, another hypothesis points to such mechanisms being constrained to the religious ingroup, possibly at the expense of religious outgroups. To test these hypotheses, we administered two behavioural experiments and a set of interviews to a sample of 2228 participants from 15 diverse populations. These populations included foragers, pastoralists, horticulturalists, and wage labourers, practicing Buddhism, Christianity, and Hinduism, but also forms of animism and ancestor worship. Using the Random Allocation Game (RAG) and the Dictator Game (DG) in which individuals allocated money between themselves, local and geographically distant co-religionists, and religious outgroups, we found that higher ratings of gods as monitoring and punishing predicted decreased local favouritism (RAGs) and increased resource-sharing with distant co-religionists (DGs). The effects of punishing and monitoring gods on out-group allocations revealed between-site variability, suggesting that in the absence of intergroup hostility, moralizing gods may be implicated in cooperative behaviour toward outgroups. These results provide support for the hypothesis that beliefs in monitoring and punitive gods help expand the circle of sustainable social interaction, and open questions about the treatment of religious outgroups.

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KW - EVOLUTION

KW - SUPERNATURAL PUNISHMENT

KW - cultural evolution

KW - impartiality

KW - parochialism

KW - punishing gods

KW - religion

KW - supernatural punishment

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DO - 10.1098/rspb.2019.0202

M3 - Journal article

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SN - 0962-8452

VL - 286

JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

IS - 1898

M1 - 20190202

ER -

Moralizing gods, impartiality and religious parochialism across 15 societies

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Keywords

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