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Religion and Morality (The Supernatural Watcher account (this is a…

- - - - then have issue of overfitting- hard to investigate relationship between R&M when sub-elements specified... multitude of relationships between 'foundations' in the matrix.
      - Evidence that this approach has good basis: Kivung case study: small religion created in 60s displays all the foundation features set out by M&W
      - R&M arbitrary! Persistence is futile x
- - - - e.g. moth to a flame is a byproduct of moths to moonlight
    - - Human brains are HADDs hence have false alarms
        
        religion is a byproduct of the HADD mechanisms as we attribute false alarms to a supernatural cause
  - - - Cooperation and cohesion
        
        the Prisoner's Dilemma: defect and save yourself, but throw others under the bus (they serve 10 years), or co-operate with the group (stay silent) and be better off collectively (both serve 6 months)
        
        free-riders benefit from other people's co-operation, e.g. those who don't pay taxes but do use public services
        
        religion : belief in a supernatural being acts as an incentive to co-operate
        
        WHY? because the idea of being watched by God enforces social norms and leads to prosocial behaviour
    - - Subliminal priming
        
        Religious priming leads to less immoral behaviour and more moral behaviours
        
        e.g. on Sundays, More donations to charity and Less watch porn!
        
        also more fairness in Dictator Game i.e. split reward
        
        Sharriff: priming method used scrambles sentence task to prime religious concepts e.g. including words such as 'spirit, divine, God, sacred, prophet'
        
        :no_entry: questionable whether this priming was truly subliminal or not - some phrases more subtle than others. If conscious priming then could have been demand characteristics
        
        less cheating on a test when primed with the call to prayer
      - Self report of pro-sociality e.g. donating in church
        
        :no_entry: unreliable socially desirable answer
        
        :no_entry: more to do with moral reputation than moral behaviour? Is it even moral to report doing a good deed or is this self-gratuitous?
      - LINK TO RITUALS LECTURE
      - Ahmed (2009)
        
        imams (priests) in training more co-operative and more generous in the Public Goods Game (multi-player prisoner's dilemma) and the Dictator Game (share £5), compared to social science students
      - The replication crisis!
- - - - “We often find human beings setting aside their personal interests, their health, their chances to have children, and devoting their entire lives to furthering the interests of an idea tha t has lodged in their brains.” (Dennett, 2006, pp. 3-4).