Natural selection for supernaturalism. One altered state of consciousness that seems to exist universally across time and cultures is religious experience – experiences that are perceived to have a supernatural origin or explanation. It seems that we are hard-wired to be religious (or superstitious). From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, what adaptive function might it serve for us to have evolved this tendency?
Note that the truth or falsity of any particular religious beliefs are not at issue here (and are not relevant to the question). The question is, why, from an evolutionary perspective, did we evolve the tendency to believe in the supernatural? The fact that we evolved to believe it does not make it true (we also evolved to experience all sorts of perceptual illusions), nor does being able to explain in evolutionary terms why we believe it make the belief false. So please refrain from expressing any opinions about the truth or falsity of religious beliefs, and focus instead on how the tendency to have such beliefs might have increased our ancestors’ reproductive fitness – how it could have made them more likely to leave lots of descendants (who would also have that trait)
