title: Why would anyone want to believe in Big Gods?
abstract: We suggest an alternative explanation for the emergence of Big Gods that places less emphasis on the role of cognitive tendencies and selection of prosocial cultural variants. Instead, we argue that the fundamental motivation to reduce uncertainty and increase long-term predictability provides a better account for the rise of Big moralizing Gods in a complex and heavily regulated social environment.
authors.affiliation: Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour,Radboud University,6500 HE Nijmegen,The Netherlands.i.brazil@donders.ru.nlhttp://www.ru.nl/donders/
authors.forename: Inti A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Brazil
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement,Coventry University Priory Street,CV1 5FB,United Kingdom.miguel.farias@coventry.ac.ukhttp://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/areas-of-research/psychology-behaviour-achievement/
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Farias
mesh_terms: D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D012067:Religion; D012931:Social Environment; D035501:Uncertainty