Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T03:49:24.277Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Hell of a theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2016

Joachim I. Krueger*
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912. joachim@brown.eduhttp://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=10378

Abstract

The theory of group-selected Big God religions is a master narrative of cultural evolution. The evidence is a positive manifold of correlated assumptions and variables. Although provocative, the theory is overly elastic. Its critical ingredient – belief in Big Gods – is neither necessary nor sufficient to account for in-group prosociality and discipline. Four specific issues illustrate this elasticity.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Campbell, D. T. (1975) On the conflicts between biological and social evolution and between psychology and moral tradition. American Psychologist 30:1103–26. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.30.12.1103.Google Scholar
DiDonato, T. E., Ullrich, J. & Krueger, J. I. (2011) Social perception as induction and inference: An integrative model of intergroup differentiation, ingroup favoritism, and differential accuracy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 100:6683. doi:10.1037/a0021051.Google Scholar
Hume, D. (1751) An enquiry concerning the principles of morals. A. Millar.Google Scholar
Jones, B. A. & Rachlin, H. (2006) Social discounting. Psychological Science 17:283–86. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01699.x.Google Scholar
Kant, I. (1788/1956) Critique of practical reason. Bobbs-Merrill. (Original work published in 1788.)Google Scholar
Krueger, J. I. (2007) From social projection to social behaviour. European Review of Social Psychology 18:135. doi:10.1080/10463280701284645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peoples, H. C. & Marlowe, F. W. (2012) Subsistence and the evolution of religion. Human Nature 23:253–69. doi:10.1007/s12110-012-9148-6.Google Scholar
Tajfel, H. (1970) Experiments in intergroup discrimination. Scientific American 223:96102. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican1170-96.Google Scholar