Theory of mind and religion

[Iconoclast08]

I was recently reading an interesting chapter by Steven Pinker titled "The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion". While I think a lot of ev psych is abused with souped up just-so story telling, some of the ideas (esp. those espoused by Pinker) are worthy of consideration.

Anyway, toward the end of the chapter, Pinker raises the possibility that theory of mind run amok at some point in our evolutionary history may help account for ubiquitous beliefs in gods, souls, angels, etc. Theory of mind refers to our human tendency to impute minds to other people and thus explain other people's behaviors in terms of their thoughts and emotions.

Has anyone read anything elaborating on this idea? What do you think about it?

Also, Pinker casts doubt on the Flavor-Aid crowd's notion (Dr. Dean Hamer included) that religion must be an adaptation and puts some serious holes in the question-begging "God module in the brain" assertion.

[AkuManiMani]

I was recently reading an interesting chapter by Steven Pinker titled "The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion". While I think a lot of ev psych is abused with souped up just-so story telling, some of the ideas (esp. those espoused by Pinker) are worthy of consideration.

Anyway, toward the end of the chapter, Pinker raises the possibility that theory of mind run amok at some point in our evolutionary history may help account for ubiquitous beliefs in gods, souls, angels, etc. Theory of mind refers to our human tendency to impute minds to other people and thus explain other people's behaviors in terms of their thoughts and emotions.

Has anyone read anything elaborating on this idea? What do you think about it?

Also, Pinker casts doubt on the Flavor-Aid crowd's notion (Dr. Dean Hamer included) that religion must be an adaptation and puts some serious holes in the question-begging "God module in the brain" assertion.

I agree that we humans do have a strong habit of personifying inanimate objects, or the universe in general which readily translates into religious/supernatural beliefs. That said, I doubt that it persists for any genetic adaptive purpose. By this point the whole discussion is wandering into the realm of 'memes' which evolve in parallel to genetic evolution.