Religion, Cooperation, and Trust: the cognitive origins and societal impact of supernatural beliefs

Religious and supernatural beliefs are one of the great puzzles of human psychology. Why are we uniquely a religious species? How has our predisposition towards religion affected our societal development?

In this talk, I will discuss the roles of cognition and cultural in establishing and maintaining religious and supernatural beliefs, and how culturally evolved religious institutions can influence societal development. I will present evidence for two types of beliefs, moralizing religions, and witchcraft beliefs.

I will discuss evidence about why humans might routinely perceive the world in supernatural terms, and how cultural evolution can transform these beliefs into group level belief systems to aid cooperation. I will compare moralizing religions to witchcraft beliefs and discuss how these differently impact cooperation and trust.