Extravagant religious displays function as hard-to-fake signals of commitment

Evidence

Costly signaling theory says that these displays are hard-to-fake signals that reliably indicate an underlying trait to observers. For example, the extravagant male peacock tail was sexually selected to indicate to peahens the male’s mating quality. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 339

Categorization

• DEFINE: Costly signaling theory: displays as reliable, unfakeable indicators—directly relevant to fumi-e as observable apostasy-proof.