Perceiving Minds and Gods: How Mind Perception Enables, Constrains, and Is Triggered by Belief in Gods.
Perspectives on Psychological Science July 1, 2013 Will M Gervais 116 citations
Most people believe in the existence of empirically unverifiable gods. Despite apparent heterogeneity, people's conceptions of their gods center on predictable themes. Gods are overwhelmingly represented as intentional agents with (more or less) humanlike mental lives. This article reviews converging evidence suggesting that this regularity in god concepts exists in part because the ability to...
DOI: 10.1177/1745691613489836 (opens in new tab)
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Mind perception
Prosocial behavior
Religious beliefs
Religious disbelief
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