Supernatural belief works through the same surveillance mechanism that generates prosocial behavior
Evidence
The experimental studies reviewed earlier, as well as the Sunday Effect studies, indicate that temporary reminders of God increase generosity, cooperation, and costly punishment of selfishness, and decrease the temptation to cheat. I have argued that supernatural monitoring is one critical explanation. To the extent that thoughts of watchful gods weigh on the mind, people feel monitored, and as a result, behave more nicely toward strangers even when the situation is objectively anonymous. However, there is a different explanation that must be dealt with: the ideomotor account. These two accounts are not incompatible (both could be true), but they are distinguishable accounts. Here, I discuss the evidence for the supernatural monitoring explanation and compare it to the ideomotor account. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 157 (
#exemplifies, via linked claim)
Whereas the ideomotor hypothesis posits that the link between religion and prosociality is the consequence of a cultural association, the supernatural monitoring hypothesis speaks to the more basic question of why religion might cause large-scale anonymous prosociality in the first place. If people are less prone to selfishly cheat the system when they feel watched, then beliefs in moralizing gods, who can monitor social interactions even when no humans are watching, may have been instrumental in promoting large-scale human cooperation. Once these supernatural monitors culturally spread in human populations, and practices and institutions were built to promote them, repeated activation of thoughts related to them would have led to the habitual and unconscious cognitive associations between these thoughts and prosocial behaviors, exactly as predicted by the ideomotor hypothesis. Therefore, it is more plausible that ideomotor associations between God and prosociality were the consequence of belief in supernatural monitoring, rather than being a cause. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 175 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Moralizing supernatural agents help sustain cooperation at scales beyond natural limits; Belief in supernatural watchers evolved as an adaptive guard against selfishness; Language and gossip created evolutionary pressure for supernatural surveillance beliefs (+10 more)
Related
- Supernatural monitoring caused the God-prosociality association, not the reverse (similarity 0.94)
- Thoughts of watchful gods make people behave prosocially even when anonymous (similarity 0.92)
- Perceived accountability to supernatural monitors extends trust beyond one’s own religious community (similarity 0.90)
- Anonymity leaves some prosocial residue but surveillance reliably amplifies it (similarity 0.90)
- Supernatural monitoring causally precedes ideomotor associations, not the reverse. (similarity 0.88)
- Large anonymous groups need supernatural monitoring to avoid splintering (similarity 0.87)
- Supernatural punishment explains religion’s prosocial effects better than ideomotor priming (similarity 0.86)
- Supernatural monitoring, not moral emotions alone, scaled prosociality to mass societies (similarity 0.84)
- Supernatural punishment psychology is agreed upon despite evolutionary disputes (similarity 0.83)
- Mind-reading capacities are prerequisites for believers to interact with and be policed by gods (similarity 0.83)
- Supernatural monitoring beliefs drive atheist distrust even without ingroup membership (similarity 0.83)
- Vengeful Gods make more potent moral monitors than kind Gods (similarity 0.82)
- Supernatural watcher beliefs check selfish behavior once social worlds grew transparent (similarity 0.82)
- Prosociality arises from many sources besides religious supernatural monitoring (similarity 0.82)
- Moralizing supernatural agents help sustain cooperation at scales beyond natural limits (similarity 0.82)
Broader Connections
- Thoughts of watchful gods make people behave prosocially even when anonymous
#exemplifies(0.90) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 157 - Supernatural monitoring caused the God-prosociality association, not the reverse
#corroborates(0.85) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 175 - Supernatural punishment explains religion’s prosocial effects better than ideomotor priming
#expands(0.80) - Supernatural monitoring beliefs drive atheist distrust even without ingroup membership
#expands(0.75) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 296 - Trust in impartial institutions substitutes for supernatural monitoring of strangers.
#complicates(0.75)