TY - JOUR
T1 - Broad supernatural punishment but not moralizing high gods precede the evolution of political complexity in Austronesia
AU - Watts, Joseph
AU - Greenhill, Simon
AU - Atkinson, Quentin D.
AU - Gray, Russell
AU - Currie, Thomas E.
AU - Bulbulia, Joseph
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Supernatural belief presents an explanatory challenge to evolutionary theorists— it is both costly and prevalent. One influential functional explanation claims that the imagined threat of supernatural punishment can suppress selfishness and enhance cooperation. Specifically, morally concerned supreme deities or 'moralizing high gods' have been argued to reduce free-riding in large social groups, enabling believers to build the kind of complex societies that define modern humanity. Previous cross-cultural studies claiming to support the MHG hypothesis rely on correlational analyses only and do not correct for the statistical non-independence of sampled cultures. Here we use a Bayesian phylogenetic approach with a sample of 96 Austronesian cultures to test the MHG hypothesis as well as an alternative supernatural punishment hypothesis that allows punishment by a broad range of moralizing agents. We find evidence that broad supernatural punishment drives political complexity, whereas MHGs follow political complexity. We suggest that the concept of MHGs diffused as part of a suite of traits arising from cultural exchange between complex societies. Our results show the power of phylogenetic methods to address long-standing debates about the origins and functions of religion in human society.
AB - Supernatural belief presents an explanatory challenge to evolutionary theorists— it is both costly and prevalent. One influential functional explanation claims that the imagined threat of supernatural punishment can suppress selfishness and enhance cooperation. Specifically, morally concerned supreme deities or 'moralizing high gods' have been argued to reduce free-riding in large social groups, enabling believers to build the kind of complex societies that define modern humanity. Previous cross-cultural studies claiming to support the MHG hypothesis rely on correlational analyses only and do not correct for the statistical non-independence of sampled cultures. Here we use a Bayesian phylogenetic approach with a sample of 96 Austronesian cultures to test the MHG hypothesis as well as an alternative supernatural punishment hypothesis that allows punishment by a broad range of moralizing agents. We find evidence that broad supernatural punishment drives political complexity, whereas MHGs follow political complexity. We suggest that the concept of MHGs diffused as part of a suite of traits arising from cultural exchange between complex societies. Our results show the power of phylogenetic methods to address long-standing debates about the origins and functions of religion in human society.
U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2014.2556
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2014.2556
M3 - Article
VL - 282
SP - -
JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences
IS - 1804
ER -