CRED-backed belief spreads via transmission advantage and outcompetes rival groups

Evidence

Third, extravagant displays often are altruistic acts toward other ingroup members. These acts of altruism further escalate the level of ingroup cooperation in prosocial religious groups. Therefore, the fifth principle of supernatural monitoring ensures that belief in supernatural monitors that are backed by credible displays will be more likely to influence witnesses (cultural learners), meaning that these belief-behavior complexes are more likely to enjoy a transmission advantage in the cultural marketplace. In turn, groups that adopt such practices would be expected to outcompete groups that fail to find alternative mechanisms to ensure trust and solidarity. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 335

Categorization

• XREF: Feeds the reader’s argument about group competition — joining this transmission-advantage dynamic stakes out how faith-based solidarity outcompetes alternatives. — connects to: Cachet diffuses along association chains but evaporates under lower-class adoption — W. David Marx, Status and Culture: How Our Desire for…, 212