Ideomotor accounts predict kind Gods matter while watcher accounts predict punishing ones

Evidence

And third, and most importantly, these two types of explanations diverge about their predictions about what kinds of deities most strongly evoke prosocial tendencies. Ideomotor explanations predict that benevolent and kind Gods more clearly fit the prosocial stereotype that presumably causes greater prosocial behavior. In contrast, supernatural monitoring explanations predict that vengeful and punishing Gods make more potent supernatural monitors, and are therefore more likely to encourage nice behavior. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 159 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Believing God is punishing deters cheating more than believing God is kind — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 168; Supernatural punishment explains religion’s prosocial effects better than ideomotor priming; Vengeful Gods make more potent moral monitors than kind Gods — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 159

Related

• Vengeful Gods make more potent moral monitors than kind Gods (similarity 0.91)
• Supernatural punishment explains religion’s prosocial effects better than ideomotor priming (similarity 0.90)
• Believing God is punishing deters cheating more than believing God is kind (similarity 0.86)
• Supernatural monitoring caused the God-prosociality association, not the reverse (similarity 0.84)
• Benevolent God concepts fail to suppress antisocial behavior, unlike punishing gods. (similarity 0.83)
• Thoughts of watchful gods make people behave prosocially even when anonymous (similarity 0.82)
• Supernatural monitoring causally precedes ideomotor associations, not the reverse. (similarity 0.81)
• Subliminal God words curb cheating regardless of personal religiosity. (similarity 0.81)
• Supernatural belief works through the same surveillance mechanism that generates prosocial behavior (similarity 0.81)
• Supernatural punishment psychology is agreed upon despite evolutionary disputes (similarity 0.80)
• Belief that God punishes reduces people’s willingness to punish wrongdoers themselves. (similarity 0.80)
• People represent gods using the same mental machinery as human observers. (similarity 0.79)
• Mind-reading capacities are prerequisites for believers to interact with and be policed by gods (similarity 0.79)
• Religious priming effects are testable against the ideomotor alternative (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Supernatural punishment explains religion’s prosocial effects better than ideomotor priming #corroborates (0.90)
• Vengeful Gods make more potent moral monitors than kind Gods #expands (0.85) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 159