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Testing major evolutionary hypotheses about religion with a random sample.

David Sloan Wilson1

  • 1Departments of Biology and Anthropology, Binghamton University, 13902-6000, Binghamton, NY. dwilson@binghamton.edu.

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|July 21, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Evolutionary theories of religion were tested using a random sample of 35 religions. Findings support the group-level adaptation hypothesis, suggesting religions offer secular utility and motivate adaptive behaviors.

Keywords:
AdaptationEvolutionEvolutionary religious studiesGroup SelectionReligion

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary psychology
  • Sociology of religion
  • Anthropology of religion

Background:

  • Theories of religion often suffer from selection bias due to cherry-picked examples.
  • Evolutionary hypotheses offer potential explanations for the origins and persistence of religious beliefs and behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To empirically evaluate major evolutionary hypotheses about religion.
  • To address potential selection bias in previous studies by using a random sample.

Main Methods:

  • A random sample of 35 religions was selected from a comprehensive encyclopedia of world religions.
  • Major evolutionary hypotheses regarding religion were assessed against this sample.

Main Results:

  • The group-level adaptation hypothesis, as proposed by Wilson (2002), received significant support.
  • Most sampled religions demonstrated "secular utility," with supernatural elements functioning as proximate mechanisms for adaptive behaviors.
  • Jainism, initially appearing contradictory, strongly supported the group-level adaptation hypothesis upon detailed analysis.

Conclusions:

  • The findings suggest that religions often serve adaptive functions at the group level.
  • Otherworldly beliefs can be interpreted as psychological mechanisms promoting behaviors beneficial to social cohesion and survival.
  • Further multidisciplinary research in evolutionary religious studies is warranted to build upon these preliminary results.