The Belief Instinct - Cognitive Religious Studies (Jesse Bering)

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Why do so many people believe in God? Evolutionary psychologist and Scientific American​ blogger Jesse Bering has a novel answer to this tired question. In The Belief Instinct, he explains that although the evolution of language was beneficial—allowing us to communicate easily and disseminate important information—it also brought with it a deeply troubling problem for early humans. Language allowed onlookers to report on someone else's behavior long after the event had occurred. This meant that if you were caught doing something objectionable, such as stealing, you had "foolishly gambled away" your reputation and consequently your reproductive prospects. Thus, believing in a supernatural being who monitored and judged anyone at all times encouraged people to avoid acting on their immoral impulses, helping them survive, Bering says.

Gossiping, however, was not the only trait that prompted humans to believe in God. Bering argues that our ability to think about what others think, known as "theory of mind," also played an important role. He writes that our "overzealous" theory of mind motivates us to get "into God's head" and look for hidden meaning or messages embedded in any event, such as if your alarm clock fails to go off or a hurricane floods your basement. In fact, without this cognitive bias, "much of religion as we know it would never have gotten off the ground," Bering asserts.Why is belief so hard to shake? Despite our best attempts to embrace rational thought and reject superstition, we often find ourselves appealing to unseen forces that guide our destiny, wondering who might be watching us as we go about our lives, and imagining what might come after death.

In this lively and masterfully argued new book, Jesse Bering unveils the psychological underpinnings of why we believe. Combining lucid accounts of surprising new studies with insights into literature, philosophy, and even pop culture, Bering gives us a narrative that is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking. He sheds light on such topics as our search for a predestined life purpose, our desire to read divine messages into natural disasters and other random occurrences, our visions of the afterlife, and our curiosity about how moral and immoral behavior are rewarded or punished in this life.

Bering traces all of these beliefs and desires to a single trait of human psychology, known as the "theory of mind," which enables us to guess at the intentions and thoughts of others. He then takes this groundbreaking argument one step further, revealing how the instinct to believe in God and other unknowable forces gave early humans an evolutionary advantage. But now that these psychological illusions have outlasted their evolutionary purpose, Bering draws our attention to a whole new challenge: escaping them.

Thanks to Bering's insight and wit, THE BELIEF INSTINCT will reward readers with an enlightened understanding of the universal human tendency to believe — and the tools to break free.

Jesse Bering is an internationally recognized evolutionary psychologist, Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at the Queen's University, Belfast, and one of the principal investigators of the Explaining Religion Project. He writes the popular weekly column "Bering in Mind," a featured blog for the Scientific American website. He lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland.