Journal
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
Volume 92, Issue -, Pages 313-323Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.02.013
Keywords
inclusive fitness; kinship; religious behaviour
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Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
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We describe and evaluate an integrative hypothesis for the origin and evolution of human religious cognition and behaviour, based on maximization of inclusive fitness. By this hypothesis, the concept of God is represented by one's circle of kin and social salience, such that serving God and serving this circle become synonymous. The theory is supported by data from anthropology, evolutionary theory, psychology, neuroscience, psychiatry, endocrinology and genetics. It is largely compatible with, yet can subsume, previous theories of religion that are also based on adaptation and natural selection. (C) 2014 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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