The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior [electronic resource] /
Voland, Eckart.editor.
Schiefenhövel, Wulf.editor.
In a Darwinian world, religious behavior - just like other behaviors - is likely to have undergone a process of natural selection in which it was rewarded in the evolutionary currency of reproductive success. This book aims to provide a better understanding of the social scenarios in which selection pressure led to religious practices becoming an evolved human trait, i.e. an adaptive answer to the conditions of living and surviving that prevailed among our prehistoric ancestors. This aim is pursued by a team of expert authors from a range of disciplines. Their contributions examine the relevant physiological, emotional, cognitive and social processes. The resulting understanding of the functional interplay of these processes gives valuable insights into the biological roots and benefits of religion.
Description based upon print version of record.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Evaluating the Evolutionary Status of Religiosity and Religiousnessreligiousness  -- Gods, Gains, and Genes -- How Some Major Components of Religion Could Have Evolved by Natural Selection? -- The Correlated History of Social Organization, Moralitymorality , and Religion -- Is There a Particular Role for Ideational Aspects of Religions in Human Behavioral Ecology? -- Talk and Tradition: Why the Least Interesting Components of Religion May Be the Most Evolutionarily Important -- The Reproductive Benefits of Religious Affiliation -- The African Interregnum: The “Where,” “When,” and “Why” of the Evolution of Religion -- Explaining the Inexplicable: Traditional and Syncretistic Religiosity in Melanesia -- Authoritarianism,Religiousness,religiousness and Conservatismconservatism : Is “Obedience to Authority” the Explanation for Their Clustering, Universality and Evolution? -- Cognitive Foundations in the Development of a Religious Mind -- Religious Belief and Neurocognitive Processes of the Self -- Neurologic Constraints on Evolutionary Theories of Religion -- On Shared Psychological Mechanisms of Religiousnessreligiousness and Delusional Beliefs -- Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity -- The Religious System as Adaptive: Cognitive Flexibility, Public Displays, and Acceptance -- The Evolution of Evolutionary Theories of Religion -- Evolutionary Perspectives on Religion – What They Can and What They Cannot Explain (Yet).
In a Darwinian world, religious behavior - just like other behaviors - is likely to have undergone a process of natural selection in which it was rewarded in the evolutionary currency of reproductive success. This book aims to provide a better understanding of the social scenarios in which selection pressure led to religious practices becoming an evolved human trait, i.e. an adaptive answer to the conditions of living and surviving that prevailed among our prehistoric ancestors. This aim is pursued by a team of expert authors from a range of disciplines. Their contributions examine the relevant physiological, emotional, cognitive and social processes. The resulting understanding of the functional interplay of these processes gives valuable insights into the biological roots and benefits of religion.
Evolutionary biology.
Modern philosophy.
Religion—Philosophy.
Anthropology.
Religion.
Evolutionary Biology.
Modern Philosophy.
Philosophy of Religion.
Anthropology.
Religious Studies, general.