{"id":2869,"date":"2019-03-21T11:17:15","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T02:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/163.180.4.222\/lab\/?p=2869"},"modified":"2019-03-21T11:17:15","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T02:17:15","slug":"complex-societies-precede-moralizing-gods-throughout-world-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=2869","title":{"rendered":"Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Abstract<\/h4>\n
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The origins of religion and of complex societies represent evolutionary puzzles1<\/a>,2<\/a>,3<\/a>,4<\/a>,5<\/a>,6<\/a>,7<\/a>,8<\/a><\/sup>. The \u2018moralizing gods\u2019 hypothesis offers a solution to both puzzles by proposing that belief in morally concerned supernatural agents culturally evolved to facilitate cooperation among strangers in large-scale societies9<\/a>,10<\/a>,11<\/a>,12<\/a>,13<\/a><\/sup>. Although previous research has suggested an association between the presence of moralizing gods and social complexity3<\/a>,6<\/a>,7<\/a>,9<\/a>,10<\/a>,11<\/a>,12<\/a>,13<\/a>,14<\/a>,15<\/a>,16<\/a>,17<\/a>,18<\/a><\/sup>, the relationship between the two is disputed9<\/a>,10<\/a>,11<\/a>,12<\/a>,13<\/a>,19<\/a>,20<\/a>,21<\/a>,22<\/a>,23<\/a>,24<\/a><\/sup>, and attempts to establish causality have been hampered by limitations in the availability of detailed global longitudinal data. To overcome these limitations, here we systematically coded records from 414\u00a0societies that span the past 10,000\u00a0years from 30\u00a0regions around the world, using 51\u00a0measures of social complexity and 4\u00a0measures of supernatural enforcement of morality. Our analyses not only confirm the association between moralizing gods and social complexity, but also reveal that moralizing gods follow\u2014rather than precede\u2014large increases in social complexity. Contrary to previous predictions9<\/a>,12<\/a>,16<\/a>,18<\/a><\/sup>, powerful moralizing \u2018big gods\u2019 and prosocial supernatural punishment tend to appear only after the emergence of \u2018megasocieties\u2019 with populations of more than around one million people. Moralizing gods are not a prerequisite for the evolution of social complexity, but they may help to sustain and expand complex multi-ethnic empires after they have become established. By contrast, rituals that facilitate the standardization of religious traditions across large populations25<\/a>,26<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0generally precede the appearance of moralizing gods. This suggests that ritual practices were more important than the particular content of religious belief to the initial rise of social complexity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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(\uc6d0\ubb38 \ub610\ub294 \ub17c\ubb38 \ub9c1\ud06c: \uc5ec\uae30<\/a>\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~)<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Abstract   The origins of religion and of complex societies represent evolutionary puzzles1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. The \u2018moralizing gods\u2019 hypothesis offers a solution to both puzzles(more…)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[32,29,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essays-on-science","category-lets-do-science","category-recent-science-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2799,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=2799","url_meta":{"origin":2869,"position":0},"title":"Inside the ant lab: Mutants and social genes","author":"biochemistry","date":"March 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 An unusual ant species is helping researchers understand the complex behaviour of social insects. \u00a0 \u00a0 Social insects such as ants and bees often have complex societies, but understanding the genetics behind their social interactions can be difficult due to their lifecycles. 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It resulted in a historical tragedy, as thousands of babies were born\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Essays on Science"","block_context":{"text":"Essays on Science","link":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?cat=32"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1183,"url":"https:\/\/biochemistry.khu.ac.kr\/lab\/?p=1183","url_meta":{"origin":2869,"position":4},"title":"Rethinking chemical risks","author":"biochemistry","date":"July 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 (\uc6d0\ubb38: \uc5ec\uae30\ub97c \ud074\ub9ad\ud558\uc138\uc694~) \u00a0 \u00a0 Science\u00a0\u00a020 Jul 2018: Vol. 361, Issue 6399, pp. 240-242 DOI: 10.1126\/science.361.6399.240-r \u00a0 \u00a0 Modern life relies on vast numbers of different chemicals, from pharmaceuticals and cleaning products to pesticides and plastics. 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