Steven Crane Compiled Section Handouts. Human Behavioral Biology 2012

Religious Faith and Explanations of Causality and Agency

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  Humans tend to infer agency and causality even in inanimate objects moving around on a screen. We also look for agency and causality in the universe and in the realms of life that are most mysterious/unknown (time, eternity, death, consciousness).
  
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  And if there's no proof, that's okay. Many religious emphasize the importance of faith itself: believing things because of the belief, not because of the evidence for the belief. Opposite in science.
  

What kinds of gods to humans tend to have?

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  Familiar, recognizable gods in the image of humans.
  
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  Gods that have faults and affairs and trickery (just think of Greek mythology).
  
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  And then we get Judaism and a monotheistic god that is unknowable, hidden, omnipotent, and with desires that humans can't even fathom.
  

What experiments led credence to the idea that humans tend to see patterns when there are none?

• Superstitious behavior can be triggered even in pigeons. Reward them randomly, and whatever behavior preceded that reward, they will perseverate in doing even though it has no causal connection to the reward.

• Humans tend to see patterns in random data that don't actually exist, and it's MORE LIKELY when they've just been doing a task in which they have little control over a reward outcome.

What personality type is more likely to lean towards religiosity?

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  Intuitive personality.
  
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  And when you prime people to think more analytically, they tend to express less religiosity and more disbelief. 3 experimental examples?
  

  • Like making them look at The Thinker statue instead of a discus thrower.

  • Like priming with random lists of words. One set has words like "think, rational, ponder" thrown in there.

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