Mortality Awareness and Belief in Supernatural Agents

1
Mortality Awareness and Belief in Supernatural
Agents

• Ara Norenzayan
• Department of Psychology
• University of British Columbia

2
Cross Cultural Observations

• Nearly all societies have supernatural beliefs
  Most people in the world believe in some kind of
  Higher Power (60-90)
• Supernatural beliefs are the cornerstone of
  religions
• The influence of religions is expected to
  increase in the coming decades

3
Surveys of Religion show that Americans Believe
in

• Believe
• God 96
• Heaven 93
• Hell 85
• Psychic and spiritual healing 54
• ESP or extrasensory perception 50
• Haunted houses 50
• Possession by the devil 41
• Ghosts of dead people returning 38
• Clairvoyance 32
• Gallup Poll, 1994, 2001

4
Cross Cultural Comparisons

• How Important is God in your life?
• West Africa 97
• Latin America 87
• North America 83
• Western Europe 49
• Eastern Europe 49
• South East Asia 47
• Total Average 63
• Middle East ?
• Gallup International Millenium Survey (60
  countries)

5
The Secularization Myth

• Despite the rise of science and technology, the
  influence of religions has not diminished
• Estimated 10,000 religions in the world
• 2-3 religions born every day
• The rise of religion in the 21st century--The age
  of religious conflicts?
• Two exceptions Europe and academia

6
Supernatural Agent Beliefs

• Supernatural agent beliefs are produced by graded
  and systematic violations of intuitive agent
  beliefs (Boyer, 1994)
• Cultural manipulation of agency-detection module
• ghost intentional agent invisible passes
  through solid objects

7
Supernatural Agents and Awareness of Death

• Religious beliefs function to manage terror of
  death
• Becker, (1973) Durkheim (1915) Freud, 1913
  Kierkegaard, (1843)
• Religion is like a fire extinguisher. You never
  know when you are going to need it. So its best
  to have one handy.
• -- Al Franken, Oh, The Things I Know!

8
Terror Management Theory

• Terror Management Theory (Greenberg, et al.,
  1990)
• Two ways to cope with the awareness of death
• 1) Cultural worldview bolster ones cultural
  worldview (and derogate other worldviews)
• 2) Perceive oneself as a good cultural member
  (self esteem)

9
Questions

• Does awareness of death lead to more belief in
  supernatural agents?
• Cultural Worldview Bolstering Hypothesis death
  increases culturally-familiar SNL belief,
  decreases culturally alien SNL belief
• Distinct Supernatural Buffer Hypothesis death
  increases SNL belief even when culturally alien

10
Buddha Study

• Religious identification (pretest)
• Mortality salience vs. control story
• Newspaper article reporting scientific study
  about the power of Buddhist prayer on fertility
  rates of women wanting to get pregnant
• Questions about belief in Buddha, and Buddhas
  ability to answer prayers
• 80 Participants at an American University, 59
  Christian, 26 no religion, no Buddhists

11
Buddha Study

• Key dependent measures
• Buddha prayed to hears prayers
• Evidence that Buddha can answer prayers
• Buddha/a higher power can hear prayers
• Buddha/a higher power can answer prayers

12
Belief in The Power of Buddhist Prayer by Mostly
Christians
13
Results of Buddha Study

• Awareness of death encouraged more belief in a
  culturally alien supernatural agent
• Those who identified with their own religion were
  MORE likely to believe in the power of Buddhist
  Prayer when death was salient (r .68, p lt .01)
• In the control condition, no relationship between
  religious ID and belief in Buddha (r .03)
• Support for the distinct buffer hypothesis

14
Shaman Study

• Essay mortality salience vs. negative affect vs.
  control
• Newspaper article on the use of clairvoyant
  shamans in the Russian military to assist in
  intelligence gathering
• Questions about belief in shamanic spirits, and
  their ability to offer guidance and information
• 142 Participants in Vancouver, religious vs. not

15
Shaman Study

• Key dependent measures
• 1a) Paranormal clairvoyance is not possible (RS)
• 1b) Ancestral shamanic spirits exist
• 1c) Ancestral shamanic spirits offer guidance and
  info
• 2a) Achievements of program offer evidence that
  ancestral spirits exist
• 2b) Achievements of program offer evidence that
  ancestral spirits offer guidance and info
• 3a) God/a higher power exists
• 3b) God/a higher power offers reliable guidance
  and info

16
Belief in Ancestral Spirits
Degree of Supernatural Belief
Alien Spirits
Evidence
God/HP
Participants Indicating a Religion
17
Belief in Ancestral Spirits
Degree of Supernatural Belief
Alien Spirits
Evidence
God/HP
Non-Religious Participants
18
Ongoing Studies

• Cross cultural generality
• Yucatec Maya villagers
• Atheists in the foxhole
• Cultural transmission and stabilization of
  supernaturals

19
Conclusions from Studies

• Not side-effect of worldview bolstering
• Not merely social identification w/religious
  group
• Privileged link between awareness of mortality
  and supernatural beliefs
• In a sea storm, voyagers will pray to any God

20
No, no, thats not a sin either. My goodness, you
must have worried yourself to death.
21
Theoretical Framework(Atran Norenzayan, in
press, BBS)

• In nearly all known societies, there are
• 1) Belief in supernatural agents (Gods, ghosts),
  who manage
• 2) Existential anxieties (death social
  deception), that require
• 3) Costly commitment (sacrifice of time,
  resources)
• Ritually coordinated through affective displays,
  yielding religion

22
The Four Cs of Religion

• Religion is not a biological adaptation it is a
  cultural byproduct of multiple interacting mental
  modules and universal needs
• Counterintuition Intentional agents (cognitive
  aspect)
• Compassion Existential anxieties (emotional
  aspect)
• Costly Commitment (motivational aspect)
• Communion ritualized coordination (social aspect)