The Adaptive Logic of Religious Belief and Behavior

This two-year project will bring together a multidisciplinary research team to address the question, "Do religious beliefs and practices bring advantages at the individual level that would be favored by natural selection?" The team’s theoretical and empirical work is intended to develop a theory of the evolution of religious beliefs and behaviors as a mechanism for promoting cooperation. Findings will be published in scientific journals, independent trade books, and popular magazines in order to reach a wide audience, including other scholars, the media, opinion leaders, and the public.

Grant Amount:

$876,639

Start Date:

May 2008

End Date:

August 2010

Grant ID:

12449

Jesse Bering
Reader in the School of History and Anthropology, Queen’s College (Belfast, United Kingdom)

Terry Burnham
Director of Economics, Acadian Asset Management (Boston, Massachusetts)

Jeffrey Schloss
Distinguished Professor and Chair of Biology, Westmont College (Santa Barbara, California)

Richard Sosis
Professor of Anthropology, University of Connecticut (Storrs, Connecticut)

Robert Trivers
Professor of Anthropology and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey)