Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity

Abstract

How did religiosityreligiosity and in its wake religion come into existence? How do religious systems manage to survive in spite of their many paradox issues, glaring inconsistencies, and dubious claims? To answer these questions the approach will be threefold. First, it is suggested that many of our intuitions about the world (about causalitycausality, living and non-living objects, and intentionality) are not only consistent with primitive religiosity, but in fact are actively advancing such a beliefbelief. In childrenchildren, too, this is more than evident. As soon as a belief in one or more powerful beings is in place, quite a few cognitive mechanisms make sure that this belief will persist. Cognitive biases bias contribute to the belief’s perseverance by systematically biasing evidence for and against it. These mechanisms are spelled out in detail. A second point is made via a cultural perspective. It is often the case that religion mirrors the organization of the particular societysociety by which it was created. Often simple biological or social models are at the foundations of religious beliefs. And third, there is evidence from evolutionary biologybiology that religious behavior fosters cooperationcooperation as well as group coherence and helps solving free-riderfree-rider problems.