Supernaturalizing Social Life: Religion and the Evolution of Human Cooperation
Abstract
This paper examines three ancient traits of religion whose origins likely date back to the Upper Paleolithic: ancestor worship, shamanism, and the belief in natural and animal spirits. Evidence for the emergence of these traits coincides with evidence for a dramatic advance in human social cooperation. It is argued that these traits played a role in the evolution of human cooperation through the mechanism of social scrutiny. Social scrutiny is an effective means of reducing individualism and enhancing prosocial behavior. Religion's most ancient traits represent an extension of the human social world into the supernatural, thus reinforcing within-group cooperation by means of ever-vigilant spiritual monitors. Believing that the spirits were always watching may have helped reduce the number of non-cooperators within a group while reinforcing group behavioral norms, thus allowing humanlike levels of cooperation to emerge.
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Ancestor worship is a widespread component of many religions, but variation in its extent and nature does exist.
“For example, ancestor worship is a widespread component of many religions but variation in its extent and nature does exist (Rossano 2007).”
From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Rossano 2007
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The moral appeals of ancestors
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- Authors
- Rossano, M. J.
- Affiliations
- Southeastern Louisiana University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Rossano, Matt J.
- ORCID
- Rossano, Matt J.
- Venue
- Human Nature
- Published
- 2007-09-09
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 272-294
- ISSN
- 1045-6767 (ISSN-L)
- 1936-4776
- OpenAlex
- W1516239124
- Cited by
- 80
- References
- 199
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 11.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Human Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Violence, Religion, and Philosophy
- Keywords
- ancestor veneration, shamanism, animal spirits, evolution of religion, social cooperation, prosocial behavior, individualism, group norms, Upper Palaeolithic, supernatural beliefs
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