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HUMAN SCIENCE 

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Parochial disputes

O

ther scientists apart from Harvey Whitehouse’s team are exploring the origins of religion. 

Although the universal perpetuation of religions is not contested, their provenance remains 

a subject of heated debate. Justin L. Barrett (

1

), also an anthropological researcher at Oxford 

University, attributes the emergence of religious thinking to a cognitive mechanism triggered in 

the human brain, the ‘hypersensitive agency detection device’ (HADD). When the brain is unable 

to explain a phenomenon intuitively, it attributes it to intentional supernatural agents (spirits, gods) 

to provide a coherent explanation for unusual events (such as disease, natural disasters or unex-

pected survival). In his opinion, the success of religion could be down to the fact that it makes sense 

of HADD experiences.

According to scientific philosopher Daniel C. Dennett (

2

), religion is the result of a simple mimetic 

accumulation of cultural elements – such as words, songs and artefacts – which are replicated in much 

the same way as genes. He believes that the duplication and transmission of information is auto-

matic and unconscious, without any interference from intentional agents.

(1)  Justin L. Barrett, Why Would Anyone Believe in God?, AltaMira, 2004.

(2)  Daniel C. Dennett, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, Viking Press, 2006.

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eu No. 63 | APRIL 2010 

39

research theory in the field of cognitive science 

of religion. Building on this theory, Harvey 

Whitehouse and his colleagues are attempting 

to understand why religion caters so well to 

the needs of Homo sapiens, to the point where 

it is considered to be one of humankind’s fun-

damental characteristics.

The main aim of EXREL is therefore to pro-

vide a scientific explanation for the universal 

characteristics found in the religious reper-

tory, to reconstruct the hidden processes that 

underlie their development and their dissem-

ination throughout the human community.

Religion under the microscope

The project is subdivided into four strands, 

which should improve understanding of the 

multiple facets of the religious phenomenon. 

The first consists of quantifying the main uni-

versal elements of the religious repertory, 

describing their cultural variants and highlight-

ing those that do not share these universal fea-

tures but nevertheless recur throughout history 

and cultures. Over time, the data gathered 

should enable the researchers to attempt a sci-

entific reconstruction of the religious traditions 

of prehistoric humankind. This may uncover 

surprising information concerning the manner 

in which religious concepts and behaviour 

spread across the entire globe over time. 

The second strand attempts to define the 

main causes for the existence and survival of 

universal religious traditions and to identify the 

cognitive mechanisms at work in the processes 

of memorisation and transmission. It will look 

in greater depth into the production and spe-

cific characteristics of concepts of ‘life’ after 

death, the human propensity to attribute the 

causality of events to intentional supernatural 

agents, and changes in behaviour brought 

about by belief in these agents.

The third strand of the programme will 

endeavour to explain the fact that each element 

in the religious repertory presents variations in 

the different religious traditions, depending on 

its sophistication.

The final most original and ambitious strand 

seeks to explore the future by developing mod-

els to simulate the later trajectories and trans-

formations of religious systems. Initially it will 

attempt to define a sort of minimal ‘package’ 

of cognitive aptitudes and laws of interaction 

needed for religion to emerge within a given 

society. In addition to establishing a brand new 

matrix of religious phenomena past and 

present, these models and their computerised 

avatars may be able to simulate future trans-

formations of religious traditions.

If this computer programme delivers pro-

bative results, it could prove to be a valuable 

tool for political planning. Although religious 

behaviour has mental health benefits for 

a good many people, it is still a major source 

of conflict. The corollaries of this programme 

might therefore be better understanding and 

perhaps even much-needed forecasting of reli-

gion’s impact on extremism and religious fun-

damentalism, as the lethal intolerance that 

often travels in their wake is all too apparent 

in today’s society.