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Even “Bigger Gods” developed amongst the pastoralist followers of Moses and Mohammed: Consistent with uncertainty and disadvantage, but not prosocality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2016

Edward Dutton  and
Guy Madison
Edward Dutton
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Oulo University, FI-90014, Finland. ecdutton@hotmail.com
Guy Madison
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. guy.madison@psy.umu.se http://www.umu.se/english
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Abstract

The gods of monotheistic religions, which began amongst pastoralists and defeated exiles, are closer to Big Gods than those associated with ancient city-based polities. The development of Big Gods is contingent upon a need to reduce uncertainty and negative feelings in combination with a relatively high level of prosociality, rather than a need to induce or assess prosociality.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e11
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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