The Origins of Religion: How Supernatural Beliefs Evolved

[trotsky]

http://www.livescience.com/52364-origins-supernatural-relgious-beliefs.html

...There are many theories as to how religious thought originated. But two of the most widely cited ideas have to do with how early humans interacted with their natural environment, said Kelly James Clark, a senior research fellow at the Kaufman Interfaith Institute at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.

...

"On the plains of the Serengeti, it would be better to not sit around and reflect. People who took their time got selected out," Clark told Live Science. Humans who survived to procreate were those who had developed what evolutionary scientists call a hypersensitive agency-detecting device, or HADD, he said.

In short, HADD is the mechanism that lets humans perceive that many things have "agency," or the ability to act of their own accord. This understanding of how the world worked facilitated the rapid decision-making process that humans had to go through when they heard a rustling in the grass. (Lions act of their own accord. Better run.)

But in addition to helping humans make rational decisions, HADD may have planted the seeds for religious thought. In addition to attributing agency to lions, for example, humans started attributing agency to things that really didn't have agency at all.

An interesting read.

[edhopper]

1. I think it was Pinker who talked about the Ice Cream metaphor

Humans have evolved to love ice cream, not because ice cream was something they needed, it wasn't around, but it does hit so many of the dietary desires we have evolved. Fat, sweet, calories etc...
Man invented ice cream to satisfy his evolved desire.

[bvf]

2. Bookmarked. Intriguing preview.

Last edited Mon Oct 5, 2015, 10:46 AM - Edit history (1)

ETA:

I especially liked the close:

Humans' predisposition to attribute intention to just about everything (e.g., volcanic eruptions, lunar eclipses, thunderstorms) isn't necessarily the reason religion came about, but it helps to explain why religions typically involve supernatural elements that describe such phenomena.

Anthropology is fascinating.

[cleanhippie]

3. Shermer did a great job explaining this in his book The Believing Brain.

Dr. Shermer also provides the neuroscience behind our beliefs. The brain is a belief engine. From sensory data flowing in through the senses the brain naturally begins to look for and find patterns, and then infuses those patterns with meaning. The first process Dr. Shermer calls patternicity: the tendency to find meaningful patterns in both meaningful and meaningless data. The second process he calls agenticity: the tendency to infuse patterns with meaning, intention, and agency.

We can’t help believing. Our brains evolved to connect the dots of our world into meaningful patterns that explain why things happen. These meaningful patterns become beliefs. Once beliefs are formed the brain begins to look for and find confirmatory evidence in support of those beliefs, which adds an emotional boost of further confidence in the beliefs and thereby accelerates the process of reinforcing them, and round and round the process goes in a positive feedback loop of belief confirmation. Dr. Shermer outlines the numerous cognitive tools our brains engage to reinforce our beliefs as truths and to insure that we are always right.

http://www.michaelshermer.com/the-believing-brain/

[SheilaT]

4. In addition, we're primed to see patterns in things

and to ascribing meaning to what we see. I have no trouble at all understanding how people became convinced that there's a spirit world out there, good forces, evil forces, and that maybe, just maybe, you can influence them.

Take astrology, for instance, the forerunner of astronomy. Until quite recently all night skies were quite dark, meaning the stars and planets were very visible. People looked at them, saw patterns, named those patterns. They also noticed that certain things seemed to happen in connection with what stars were in the sky at certain times, and so of course they concluded that the stars caused the events. When you have absolutely no idea what stars are, how very far away they are, it makes a great deal of sense.

Over time, the science of astronomy developed, especially after the development of telescopes. Most people don't believe in astrology any more, at least not very seriously. Although it does persist.