Mental faculties enable gods to act as supernatural monitors of behavior

Evidence

What kinds of mental capacities are recruited to conceive of gods? How did some gods come to be supernatural monitors who watch people and intervene in their lives? What’s the psychology behind belief in such gods, and how did the feeling of being under social monitoring cause a sea change in cooperative behavior? — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 65

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mentalizing enables believers to interact with and be policed by gods — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 75; Mind-reading capacities are prerequisites for believers to interact with and be policed by gods; Supernatural watcher gods extend an intuitive human social-monitoring faculty. (+4 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Mentalizing enables believers to interact with and be policed by gods — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 75; Mind-reading capacities are prerequisites for believers to interact with and be policed by gods; Supernatural watcher gods extend an intuitive human social-monitoring faculty. (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Mentalizing enables believers to interact with and be policed by gods #expands (0.95) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 75