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Intuitive theists? Agency and the concept of God

Intuitive theists? Agency and the concept of God . James A. Van Slyke. Concepts of Agency. Primary component of God Concept: Agency Detection Stewart Guthrie (1993) Evolutionary adaptation to detect agents Predators or prey Default assumption: assume something is an agent

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Intuitive theists? Agency and the concept of God

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  1. Intuitive theists? Agency and the concept of God James A. Van Slyke

  2. Concepts of Agency • Primary component of God Concept: Agency Detection • Stewart Guthrie (1993) • Evolutionary adaptation to detect agents • Predators or prey • Default assumption: assume something is an agent • Bump in the night is a burglar, not a tree • We overestimate the existence of agents

  3. Classic study of Agency • Fritz Heider and Mary-Ann Simmel (1944) • What happens when persons view a movie about geometrical shapes? • Most persons tend to attribute some form of agency or personhood to the shapes • Assume that the shapes had intentions or purposes • Assume that the big triangle is “mean” or picking on the little triangle • Shapes are chasing each other

  4. Theory of Mind • Assume intentions, goals and forms of agency in other persons • These assumptions are not limited to person, but engage a variety of different objects • Children’s cartoons • Computers • Weather

  5. Hyperactive Agency Detection Device (HADD) • Justin Barrett • EP Cognitive Module • Related to ToM • Adaptive to move rather than wait • Tend to assume agents are everywhere • Makes it very easy to believe in God without a lot of theological training

  6. Promiscuous Teleology Teleology – belief that something is caused by someone with intentions rather than natural or “blind” causes Children prefer explanations based on teleology vs. natural or scientific explanations Seems to be a cognitive bias towards these types of explanations

  7. Designing Agent Bias • Keleman & DiYanni (2005) • 6 to 7 year old British Children • Did someone or something (X) or did it just happen • (X1) Make the first mountain? (over 50% attribute this to someone) • (X2) Make the first monkey? (over 73% attributed this to someone) • Children’s bias may indicate a cognitive tendency towards agency

  8. Who designed the Natural world? • Margaret Evans • Children tend to favor creationist accounts over evolutionary accounts • Children younger than ten • Even if their parents and teachers endorsed evolution

  9. HADD and ToM • False Belief Task (Box of crackers) • Prior to age 4 or 5 assume similar cognitive awareness • If I know there are pencils everyone else does too • After 5 understand differences in cognitive states • What about a supernatural agent? (i.e. God) • Developmentally assume ‘supernatural’ abilities for everyone, then parse it down • Even after age 5, children assume God would not be fooled

  10. Immortality Bias? • Emily Reed Burdett • 66 Israeli children (2 to 5 years) • Questions • Could friend/mother/God Die? • Can God be killed? • All children distinguished between God and friend/mother • Even youngest children were able to consistently make the distinction • God could not be killed • Split over whether parents and friends could be killed • Understood God’s immortality before understanding human morality

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