Supernatural punishment and individual social compliance across cultures
Religion, Brain & Behavior • Vol/Iss. 1 (2) • Routledge • • Published In • Pages: 119-134 •
By Bourrat, Pierrick , Atkinson, Quentin D. , Dunbar, Robin I.M.
Hypothesis
Individual cooperation will be positively correlated with societal belief in visible supernatural agents (theories of sorcery, witchcraft, and evil eye).
Note
“Compliance with community norms” was the only supernatural agent to be significant and negative relationship with an individual cooperation measure (evil-eye: p=.034, tau-b= -.219), but did not remain significant after controlling for region, religion, and contact with other societies.
| Test Name | Support | Significance | Coefficient | Tail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kendall's tau | Not supported | p> .1 | UNKNOWN | Two-tailed |
| Variable Name | Variable Type | OCM Term(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Individual cooperation | Dependent | Ethics, Ingroup Antagonisms, Social Personality, Transmission Of Cultural Norms |
| Fear of punishment, visual agents | Independent | Social Control, Sorcery |