New Scientist: The Brain is Hard-wired to Believe in Gods

[BurtWorm]

Contrary to what a lot of atheists, including myself, have argued, apparently the default position for humans seems to be belief and credulousness--which could explain why religion is so goddamned intractable.



http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126941.700-born-believers-how-your-brain-creates-god.html?full=true&print=true

Based on these and other experiments, Bering considers a belief in some form of life apart from that experienced in the body to be the default setting of the human brain. Education and experience teach us to override it, but it never truly leaves us, he says. From there it is only a short step to conceptualising spirits, dead ancestors and, of course, gods, says Pascal Boyer, a psychologist at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. Boyer points out that people expect their gods' minds to work very much like human minds, suggesting they spring from the same brain system that enables us to think about absent or non-existent people.

The ability to conceive of gods, however, is not sufficient to give rise to religion. The mind has another essential attribute: an overdeveloped sense of cause and effect which primes us to see purpose and design everywhere, even where there is none. "You see bushes rustle, you assume there's somebody or something there," Bloom says.

This over-attribution of cause and effect probably evolved for survival. If there are predators around, it is no good spotting them 9 times out of 10. Running away when you don't have to is a small price to pay for avoiding danger when the threat is real.


...

Our predisposition to believe in a supernatural world stays with us as we get older. Kelemen has found that adults are just as inclined to see design and intention where there is none. Put under pressure to explain natural phenomena, adults often fall back on teleological arguments, such as "trees produce oxygen so that animals can breathe" or "the sun is hot because warmth nurtures life". Though she doesn't yet have evidence that this tendency is linked to belief in god, Kelemen does have results showing that most adults tacitly believe they have souls.

Boyer is keen to point out that religious adults are not childish or weak-minded. Studies reveal that religious adults have very different mindsets from children, concentrating more on the moral dimensions of their faith and less on its supernatural attributes.

Even so, religion is an inescapable artefact of the wiring in our brain, says Bloom. "All humans possess the brain circuitry and that never goes away." Petrovich adds that even adults who describe themselves as atheists and agnostics are prone to supernatural thinking. Bering has seen this too. When one of his students carried out interviews with atheists, it became clear that they often tacitly attribute purpose to significant or traumatic moments in their lives, as if some agency were intervening to make it happen. "They don't completely exorcise the ghost of god - they just muzzle it," Bering says.

...

[BrklynLiberal]

1. This seems to confirm that religion has its basis in the irrational portion of

man's mind.
Then those who believe work backwards from their beliefs to justify them by "concentrating more on the moral dimensions of their faith and less on its supernatural attributes."

I do not believe that supernatural thinking is the same as religion or the same as a belief in a supreme being who doles out love and punishment depending on how you behave.

[qwertyMike]

22. As Leonard Cohen said

I paraphrase one of his songs I think:
Sorry no link. But I agree with the sentiment.

"Sooner or later everyone will be on their knees at least once in their life, praying"

[alfredo]

33. Religion is part of our herding instinct.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. It is far more accurate to say

We are social animals and have an inate need for there to be an "alpha," and that our brains have evolved to seek out and find patterns. Religion exists at the juncture of these two traits.

[MercutioATC]

4. Also, that we are rationalizing animals. We need reasons.

When we don't have the data to form a correct explanation, we're driven to fill that void by making one up.

[TechBear_Seattle]

9. That is part of our pattern-seeking

Our rationality helps us to explain otherwise inexplicable patterns.

Case in point: dreams. Research shows that REM sleep is when our brains "reorganize" and integrate memories, which seem to be stored in the same parts of the brain that actually process the experiences. For safety reasons, the brain effectively "detaches" from the body, so that memories are not mistaken as actual events. This detachment is not perfect, and the consciousness can sometimes peek through. What it actually experiences is basically random; what we remember as dreams are the patterns we impose on that white noise.

[agent46]

23. Making meaning in art, religion and politics

Nevertheless, one could argue the human capacity to impose conceptual order on otherwise random phenomenon is the basis of metaphor and meaning in art. The value of the dream isn't so much in the content itself as in the meaning we attribute to it. If we're able to accomplish this with experiences of dream, vision or reverie, and then render it artfully, we can offer meaning and beauty for the enrichment of others. On the other hand if we're inclined more to attributing meaning to random phenomenon in the service of power, we wind up with the hardened edifices of religion and the political and economic structures it inevitably supports.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Exactly. We need things to make sense. There is fear of the unknown, so therefore

we try to make things known even if only through conjecture.

[trotsky]

7. Totally agree with this statement.

Throw in a bit of external justification for internal traits (latest studies showing altruism and empathy are genetic in origin) and you've got religion.

[cobalt1999]

12. Exactly

Much better than saying "we are programmed to believe in God".

[TechBear_Seattle]

14. I was just discussing this with a co-worker, and he made an interesting observation

Those who are most likely to be ferverent believers in God are those who are in need of protection or help, as is the case among every other primate. People who are already alphas are less likely to be believers themselves and more likely to use the beliefs of others to further their own power. My co-worker asked what kind of human is more likely to violate basic religious tenants such as the prohibition against adultery: a poor farmer eking out a hand-to-mouth existence, or a congressional Senator with three homes and a trophy wife?

[Shakespeare]

3. I've always thought that was the case.

Some variation of mono or polytheism occurs in almost every society.

Very interesting article--thanks for posting.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. I got a short circuit when the priest told me that "God works in mysterious ways."

As I recall, I was about 12 at the time and asked where God came from.

[Uncle Joe]

6. I believe this is related to our brains' ability to visualize the future and the past.

If we couldn't do either, there would be no concept of another life or existence. We would simply live for the here and now as this would be all we know.

[Uncle Joe]

15. Taking this line of thought a step further if an animal can remember the past

or anticipate the future, maybe their brains are hardwired to believe in an alternate existence or deity as well?

It wouldn't surprise me, because as one example, elephants exhibit behavior of this, as they will carry the bones of dead elephants for days.

[Control-Z]

8. Interesting

I wonder how many atheists interviewed had zero religious upbringing.

[Venceremos]

11. Interesting but

my oldest son NEVER harbored a belief in anything supernatural. When he was 4 years old, I was reading him the children's bible and he asked me "what fairy tale is this?".

I was raised in a very devout Catholic family, so I felt obligated to introduce my son to the bible. But I no longer felt obligated, and actually felt silly for reading it to him, after he very logically explained why it couldn't be true.

He did not get his lack of belief from me, he always seemed hard wired to reject supernatural beliefs of any kind. He always refused to believe in the Bible, as well as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or anything else that wasn't based on logic. So since this article states that "human beings have a natural inclination for religious belief", does that mean people who do not have this inclination are somehow abnormal?

[BurtWorm]

16. There's always room for variation. Always!

But as we're social animals, it stands to reason that the more individuals there are who share a trait, the more that trait tends to be associated with the society in question. I wouldn't call variation from that "norm" abnormal, mainly because of the pejorative connotations of that word. Statistically, your son may be abnormal. But that doesn't mean he's "weird."

My daughter was similarly disinclined to believe in or be at all interested in fantasy until she reached middle school, when, perhaps, she felt it was safe to indulge in suspension of disbelief. But she remains unpersuaded by friends who believe in the reality of fantasic creatures like ghosts, spirits, angels, etc.

[AndrewP]

24. That's how I was as a kid. :)

Maybe I'm more "abnormal" than I thought according to the theory espoused on the top of the page. ;-)

[KittyWampus]

13. education and experience don't teach us to override it. Materialism beats it out of us.

"Berring considers a belief in some form of life apart from that experienced in the body to be the default setting of the human brain. Education and experience teach us to override it.."

Furthermore, while I know that there is absolutely "some form of life apart from that experienced in the body" I do NOT believe in gods. There is zero need for positing some external personage.

Americans and westerners are philosophically retarded with both religious and science Fundamentalists exhibiting essentially the same backwards level of thought and observation.

[BurtWorm]

19. Materialism didn't beat belief in god out of me.

Careful thought--years and years of it, based on living in this world--extracted it from me.

[serrano2008]

17. Hard wired to believe in Gods or hard wired to search for answers?

Of course we're all hard wired to search for answers. To question your life, the Earth, society, etc. is absolutely normal and those that don't question things in the world just sit around like furniture all day, numb to everything.

Some get their answers by a belief in God because that's the easiest, others get their answers by specifically not believing in God. Ironically, people from both groups often have the same answers to the same life questions even though some believe in God and others don't.

Also, a belief in "God" can really be quite liberal in an of itself. Look at all of the different types of God's. Even many people I've come across who are Athiests don't believe in "God" but do believe in a "Higher Power" as their way of explaining the origins of Live on Earth.

[HillbillyBob]

18. Perhaps those of us that are closer to the Atheist belief or lack of

really are a bit more evolved....
I still look around with caution for threats..though that could come from being gay in a rural school where I could get my ass kicked for just being me at any time any place and none would come to my aid. I could list a whole host of past experiences that have made me a bit cautious..and some times overly aggressive, on the premise that if I am scary enough folks won't mess with me. I start out nice, but don't stay that way if that isn't working.

[Tikki]

20. I have speculated that there could be....

other life forms beyond our planet.
I don't know if I believe that there are other living entities
out there or I just want to believe it or I respect the information
that has been compiled by scientific theory on how there may
be others.

I can't ever remember believing in a creator god, a god of
good or bad or a god that is capable of answering questions.
To me geology rules...

I always wondered why any one person's appearance on this planet
would be deemed more important to the people around them than any
other person's would be.

Tikki

[zipplewrath]

21. Interesting but 2 unstated assumptions

It seems to rest its analysis upon two unstated assumptions.

1) That there is no god of any sort

2) There is no "innate knowledge"

I don't think either is a given.

We can argue about which god or gods, and what his nature is. But what is difficult to get around is that virtually every human has had some of these ideas in some form at some time in their lives. These ideas are not just taught, but "discovered" repeatedly throughout history. They take different forms, and are applied in wildly different manners, but the basic concept of "supernatural" is consistent through history around the world. It seems odd then that this article would be written from the point of view that basically every single human in recorded history has gotten it completely wrong. What would seem for more likely is that there is some innate knowledge with which we are born, and religion and suspicions are our attempt to make use of that knowledge. Alternately, there is "something" there which our pattern forming capacity is detecting but is incapable of understanding, so we inject these types of explanations.

[Divine Discontent]

25. well that makes sense to me - he made the brain. eom

[ThomWV]

26. Horseshit like this make my balls itch.

[BrklynLiberal]

27. LOL

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[ThomWV]

29. Really, it just chafes them red and raw. You see this same shit about once a year.

It the fuckin' god freeks at it again.

[BrklynLiberal]

30. I almost fell off my chair...lliterally, when I read your post.

It is just so...so...inarguable!!!!!! :yourock: :rofl: :thumbsup: :hi:

[SidDithers]

34. I should have saved a heart...

'cause that post surely deserved one :applause:

Sid

[xchrom]

28. i'm a believer -- however -- consider this --

you ae and early human prototype primate -- more advanced than apes but maybe not quite modern homo sapien.

you and your peeps are on the move -- it's twilight -- near dark -- but not dark.

and suddenly something - comes swiftly and snags one of the groups offspring.

it may be that before believing in 'gods' -- we believed in -- evil -- coming at us from who knew where.

and this scenario wa repeated for thousands of years.

[ieoeja]

32. You are correct. Except that God and Evil are not incompatible.

In the religions of ancient Europe and around the Med, worship of the gods was about placating them to stop them from doing evil things to you. The closest they got to "good" was in attempts to bribe them to actively do something you wanted versus just praying that they would leave you alone.

So when the first believed in gods, they believed them evil, which fits nicely into what you said.


And, yes, this included the Jewish gods. Lots of smiting and stuff. The very first moral taught by the bible is that knowledge is bad and blind obedience is good.

As an Atheist I will give Christianity credit for starting out, and after quickly losing its way, ending up preaching that their god was something to love instead of fear.

Well, it has mostly ended up that way. There are still plenty of god-fearing sects within Christianity. But they are a minority.

[FloridaJudy]

31. We may well be the only animals that realize that we are mortal

Though I have my suspicions about elephants.

That's an awfully scary thing to recognize. No wonder we search for an escape clause.

[LanternWaste]

35. Wow... Predestination!

Wow... Predestination! :evilgrin: