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8/4/2019 Counter Intuitive Beliefs in an Evolutionary Context
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Presentation at the IAPR Congress
Bari 2011
By
Dr George Varvatsoulias CPsychol CSci
BA, BSc, MTh, MA, PhD
8/4/2019 Counter Intuitive Beliefs in an Evolutionary Context
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Evolutionary Psychology ofReligion (1)
The semantic role of evolution and religion for theinterpretation of human mind and behaviour inpsychological terms
It is the new scientific paradigm, which lays weighton both evolution and religion. Religion is notsubjected to evolution as an issue of culturalimportance, but as a cognitive perspective, whichhas helped the course of evolution in individual
and societal terms
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Evolutionary Psychology ofReligion (2)
The religious phenomenon is not onlyregarded as a manifestation of humancognitive abilities, but as a contributorto the course of evolution viainvestigating the aforesaid in terms ofthe religious development of humanspecies
Religion is the subject-matter of thisnew paradigm, the scope of which is toidentify perspectives of religiouspsychological importance that areapplicable to the course of human
evolution
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The meaning of counter-intuition
Counter-intuition is the birth-child of
human inquiring mind; counter-intuition is the counter-rational pathway to the
interpretation of the inexplicable
Counter-intuition depends on: The violation of common-sense
expectations which defy logical orformal sequence of thinking
Beliefs in ideas and principles which donot rely on cogent evidence
Explanations to the natural world viainferences of complex representations
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Evolutionary issues ofcounter-intuition
Counter-intuition approachescomplex evolutionary issues, suchas life and death, which setcognitive, emotional, and material
conditions for ordinary humaninteractions
Counter-intuition refers to naturallyselected objects, and/or
phenomena which if animated canmeta-represent adaptivelyselected issues in a meta-cognitiveway in order to answer questions
associated to the need for survival
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Commitment to the importanceof counterintuitive notions
1. Believers recall and transmit
information to future generations: e.g.the story of Jesus
2. Believers adhere to particular belief
systems even if such systemscontradict to social values: e.g. veil ban
3. Believers generate narratives ofreligious events and principles, so the
faith system to become moreunderstandable to the public: e.g.sermons and talks at congregations
4. Believers look for individuals able tolead them spiritually: e.g. ordination,
priesthood
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Counterintuitive concepts
These are concepts where logic is unable to provide a certain reasoning to explaining
them
God as Trinity Incarnation
Afterlife
Salvation...however, the mind employs algorithms
pertaining to spirituality where concepts such as the above to be counter-intuitively
approached
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Massive Counterintuition
Religion: A system incorporating personal,interpersonal, behavioural, social, and in-group issues of belonging and identity
Morality: The unwritten law . Mores andvalues of a particular religious affiliationwith considerable impact to a society.Accepting principles of collective
consciousness
Ethics: Incorporating and applyingreligious mores to a country’s legislative
system
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Minimally counterintuitiveideas
Religious beliefs: Cognitive ideas aimed at agencydetection: God is the Creator of the world
Religious rituals: Employing special sorts ofenvironmental stimuli to identify the existence of
invisible entities Religious artifacts: The use of religious material so the
faithful to feel connected to God. These are especiallycommissioned from people of the Church andadministered to congregations for an interlinkingrelationship between the created and the Creator
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Adaptedness of
counterintuitive concepts The origin of counter-intuition lies with the
human mind, so what has been selected forto solve adaptive problems relates to
applicability of ideas able to contribute tosolutions
One of such cluster of ideas is counter-intuition – in terms of suggesting answers to
questions remaining unanswered We could assume that counterintuitive
concepts are spandrels co-opted to provide solutions to already existing adaptive problems
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The relationship of counter-intuition to survival
Evolutionary explanations to survival relate to
reproduction and fitness maximisation and vice versa
Religious beliefs have a positive impact onaffiliation to a congregation, on anindividual’s sense of belonging, on in-groupcoalitions, on meeting-up with others of thesame framework of mind
Religious beliefs promote reproductivestrategies towards fitness maximisation: thenecessity of marriage, bringing-up children,becoming a parent, enhancing parent-
offspring relationship as God himself doestowards humans
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Rationale and Hypothesis of thestudy
The understanding of the survivalprinciple according to the cognitive
psychological importance ofcounterintuitive beliefs
Counterintuitive beliefs deal with
everyday adaptive problems and serve human survival needs
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Method (1)
Participants: A random sampling of 100participants will take part in this study – 50 males, 50 females. Participants will
be recruited from four different parishesaround London: 25 participants fromeach parish
Design: 1X3 within-participant ANOVAdesign; DV: survival; IVs: afterlife,compassion, apathy.
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Method (2)
Measures:
1. The narrative of the Sermon on the Mount(Matthew 5 & 7).
2. A self-made questionnaire composed of twelvestatements I have entitled The Social Beatitudes Inventory
Procedure: The experimenter will contact
participants via each parish priest. Participantswill be explained in a letter the purpose of thestudy and they will be asked to read first thenarrative of the Sermon on the Mount, and then
to respond to the 12-statement questionnaire
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Method (3)
Items will be rated -3 to +3, a form of the Likertscale scoring system. Data collected will beput into the SPSS for final analysis and
discussion of findings (personal,interpersonal, and social implications of boththe narrative and the inventory – social, inthe sense of Christian narratives being
formed by counterintuitive beliefs whichinfluence everyday human behavior andinteraction with others. Scores for the IVsand DV items will be averaged to provide an
overall rate for each one of them)
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Results (1)
Out of 100 questionnaires were returned44 from 27 males and 17 females
A 1X3 (Survival x
Afterlife*Compassion*Apathy) within-subjects factorial ANOVA was conductedon counterintuitive beliefs and human
survival needs A significant main effect was found for
afterlife F (1,43)=8.81, p <0.5 (0.3) (r =.42)
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Results (2)
A significant effect was found forcompassion F (1,43)=6.58, p <0.5 (0.6)(r =.44)
A non-significant main effect was foundfor apathy F (1.43)=.86, p <0.5 (0.8)(r =.28)
Significant interaction was foundbetween afterlife*compassionF (1,43)=7.15, p <0.5 (0.51) (r =.45)
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Results (3)
Non-significant interaction was foundbetween afterlife*apathy F (1.43)=.207,p <0.5 (0.9) (r =.29)
Non-significant interaction was foundbetween compassion*apathyF (1,43)=0.06, p <0.5 (0.94) (r =.27)
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Discussion (1)
Significant effects and interactions werefound between IVs
The hypothesis of this study is
supported because it was found thatcounterintuitive beliefs (such as afterlifeand compassion) deal with everyday
adaptive problems (such as honesty,social balance, goodness, peace, etc.)for they serve survival needs in modernsocieties
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Discussion (2)
On the other hand non-significant main effectand interactions were found for apathy
Significant interactions and main effects for
afterlife and compassion but not for apathyindicate that social members considercontinuity issues between survival needs andcounterintuitive beliefs. The opposite was
true for apathy where survival needs do notplay important role in the lives of individualswhen social interactions based oncompassion and spirituality do not satisfy the
well-being of social members
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Discussion (3)
One other important finding coming from this studyrefers to the actual text of the Sermon on the Mount and how social members comprehend it:
1. The Sermon on the Mount influences beliefs
people hold for one another in given Christiansocieties
2. Most of the articles of this Sermon are accepted inmodern Christian societies as century-old
imperatives for the betterment of human social life3. Individuals in such societies follow the Sermon on
the Mount and adapt it in their personal lives as aprerequisite for culmination of their survival needs
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Strengths and Limitations(1)
Strengths:
1. The importance of New Testament textsfor evolutionary psychology of religion
2. The importance of counterintuitivebeliefs based on Christian texts (Biblicaland the writings of the Fathers) for the
understanding of religion as animportant factor for human socialevolution
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Strengths and Limitations(2)
Limitations:
1. In replicating the study morecounterintuitive beliefs could be
employed
2. There could be compared Biblical textsto texts of Darwinian literature in
reference to issues of adaptation,survival aspects, and aspects on fitnessmaximisation
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Conclusion
Counterintuitive concepts influencehuman social life
Religious beliefs are important for the
construction of social ideals
Religious beliefs are entertained bycounterintuitive understandings of
cognitive psychological appraisals Issues, such as compassion, apathy,
and survival characterise human social
interactions
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Appendix 1: The Sermon on the Mount (1)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called
sons of God.
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Appendix 1: The Sermon on the Mount (2)
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile
you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?”
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. (...). Whatever
you wish that men would do to you, do so to them”.
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Appendix 2: The Social Beatitudes Inventory (1)
1. Those who comprehend reality in their own way, should not have place in society .
2. Those who help others must be praised .
3. One, even to be persecuted wrongly, one should not be get annoyed at .
4. Those who mourn for things that sadden
them, it isn’t good to be comforted . 5. Those who are honest, if something
happens to them, they are to blame .
6. If you put effort, but fail, you should not
ask for the help of others.
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Appendix 2: The Social Beatitudes Inventory (2)
7. Those who struggle for balance in society must
not profit on most .
8. Those who try for peace by any means, but do
not succeed, should not mind us .9. What we say and discuss with others should not
care us whether our opinion matters to them .
10. Those who battle and become better, they
achieve it at the expense of others .11. Those who do good deeds, they do so in order
others to acknowledge them .
12. I do to others whatever I like, for my ultimate
goal is to lead ahead of them.
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References (1)
Atran, S. (2002). In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion .Oxford: Oxford University Press
Gould, S. J., & Lewontin, R. C. (1979).The Spandrels of San Marco and thePanglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the
Adaptationist Programme, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (Biological Sciences), 205 , 581-598
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References (2)
Murray, M. J., & Goldberg, A. (2009).Evolutionary accounts of Religion:Explaining and explaining away. In J.
Schloss & M. Murray (Eds.), The Believing Primate. Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Reflections (pp. 179-199).Oxford: Oxford University Press
Varvatsoulias, G. (2010). Convergentpathways between evolutionary psychologyand psychology of religion. Journal for interdisciplinary research on religion and science 7 41 63