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God's mind on morality.

Rita Anne McNamara1, Rebekah Senanayake1, Aiyana K Willard2

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cognition research often assumes a Western model of mind, but Indigenous Fijians use a different model. Introducing Christianity influenced their beliefs about divine judgment, showing cultural and cognitive co-evolution.

Keywords:
Moral reasoningcognitive anthropologycultural evolutionculture and cognitionculture cognition co-evolutionsocial cognitionsupernatural agent belief

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Science
  • Anthropology
  • Psychology of Religion

Background:

  • Most research on religious cognition assumes a universal Western model of mind, emphasizing mental state inference.
  • This assumption is challenged by evidence suggesting diverse cultural understandings of the mind.
  • Indigenous iTaukei Fijians possess a distinct model of mind that de-emphasizes mental state inference.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how Western and Indigenous models of mind interact with religious beliefs in iTaukei Fijians.
  • To examine the influence of Christian beliefs on moral reasoning and divine judgment expectations.
  • To explore the co-evolution of culture and cognition in response to introduced religious forms.

Main Methods:

  • Study 1 used free-listing (N=108) to compare Western and local models of mind in relation to religious beliefs.
  • Study 2 tested whether invoking God influenced moral reasoning, comparing iTaukei (N=151) and North Americans (N=561).
  • Further analyses examined divine judgment expectations (outcome vs. intent) across iTaukei (N=90), Indo-Fijians (N=219), and North Americans (N=412), including the effect of focusing on thoughts (iTaukei N=72).

Main Results:

  • The Christian God concept aligned with the Western model, focusing on internal states.
  • Evoking God did not trigger intent focus but reinforced cultural models of mind.
  • iTaukei Fijians expected God to emphasize outcomes in judgment, unlike Indo-Fijians and North Americans who focused on intent.

Conclusions:

  • Religious beliefs can adapt to and reinforce existing cultural models of mind.
  • Introduced cultural forms can introduce new cognitive approaches.
  • Indigenous beliefs can persist and reflect local institutions, demonstrating cultural-cognitive co-evolution.