Abstract
Many psychologists and philosophers have suggested that religious ideas emerge because they are motivationally attractive. This paper attempts to support a version of the motivational thesis by relying on religious creeds as a source of historical evidence. This simple source of evidence indicates that the cultural evolution of religious ideas is partly a function of the motivational attractiveness of the religious ideas.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 347-371 |
| Number of pages | 25 |
| Journal | Journal of Cognition and Culture |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2004 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Cultural Studies
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Is religion what we want? Motivation and the cultural transmission of religious representations'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Cite this
- APA
- Standard
- Harvard
- Vancouver
- Author
- BIBTEX
- RIS