Evolutionary origin of religion

The study of how religious beliefs and practices emerged through human evolution and through cognitive, social, and cultural processes.

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Agency detection: The tendency to infer an intentional agent behind ambiguous events or patterns. Inferring unseen agents can make spirits and other supernatural beings cognitively intuitive.
Evolutionary psychology: The study of how natural selection shaped psychological mechanisms and behavior. It supplies one framework for linking evolved mental capacities to religious thought.
Byproduct theory of religion: The view that religious cognition arises as a byproduct of mental capacities evolved for other functions. It contrasts with accounts proposing that religion itself was directly favored by selection.
Émile Durkheim: A French sociologist whose work examined religion’s role in social life and collective identity. His account of religion as a source of social solidarity influenced later evolutionary explanations.
Archaeology of religion: The study of material evidence for religious beliefs and practices in past societies. Archaeological evidence can constrain claims about when ritual and symbolic behavior emerged.
Theory of mind: The capacity to represent other beings’ beliefs, intentions, desires, and knowledge. Attributing minds to invisible agents makes interaction with them imaginable.
Cognitive science of religion: The interdisciplinary study of cognitive processes involved in religious thought and behavior. It investigates how ordinary mental capacities can generate or support religious ideas.
Adaptationism: An approach that explains traits as adaptations shaped by natural selection for particular functions. It frames the dispute over whether religion was selected for, rather than incidental to other adaptations.
E. B. Tylor: An English anthropologist who proposed animism as an early form of religious belief. His theory connected religious origins to attempts to explain souls, dreams, and death.
Paleolithic religion: Religious or ritual practices inferred from archaeological evidence dating to the Paleolithic. Its interpretation tests how far religious origins can be traced into prehistory.