The moralization bias of gods’ minds: a cross-cultural test

Religion, Brain, and Behavior Vol/Iss. 12(1-2) Taylor and Francis Published In Pages: 38-60
By Purzycki, Benjamin Grant, Willard, Aiyana K., Klocová, Eva Kundtová, Apicella, Coren, Atkinson, Quentin D., Bolyanatz, Alexander, Cohen, Emma, Handley, Carla, Henrich, Joseph, Lang, Martin, Lesorogol, Carolyn, Mathew, Sarah, McNamara, Rita A., Moya, Cristina, Norenzayan, Ara, Placek, Caitlyn D., Soler, Montserrat, Vardy, Tom, Weigel, Jonathan, Xygalatas, Dimitris, Ross, Cody T.

Hypothesis

Women are more likely to ascribe moral concerns to both moralizing and local gods.

Note

While gender does not seem to have a strong impact on assessing the moral concerns of moralistic deities, women seem more likely to ascribe moral concerns to local deities than men. The slopes for the effect of gender and their 90% credibility interval in each model are as follows (positive slopes indicate that men are more likely to ascribe moral concern and vice versa): Moralizing deity, M1: -.03 (-.11, .07); Moralizing deity, M3: -.03 (-.11, .07); Local deity, M1: -.14 (-.3, .01); Local deity, M2: -.14 (-.27, 0)

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Predictive modelPartially SupportedUNKNOWNUNKNOWNUNKNOWN