When Two Brains Lie

Over at the SciLogs blog, Michael Blume contends: HAD + TOM = Social & Religious Cognitions. Hyper Agency Detection (HAD) is what we call it when we attribute some sort of agency (or “will” if you like) behind a phenomena. The trees shift in the wind, and we say God is blowing on them. Theory of Mind (TOM) is what we call it when we start to guess why agents do the things they do. God blows on the trees because He wants to remind us He’s there.

That’s a very glib way of putting it, but it should be enough for you to get the point. Blume points out what Darwin pointed out, that assuming there’s some sort of agent behind that noise and then doing something about it is better than ignoring that growling tiger as ‘just the wind” and getting eaten. In other words, our brains were naturally selected to believe in religious things.

The Great Brain Robbery does not whole-heartedly agree. We don’t think that suggesting our brains are wired for religion dismisses worship as an artifact of survival, nor do we think that worship is promulgated by relics of survival instinct.

We contend that while TOM and HAD can create the fertile ground from which religions are grown, one more essential element is required: the ability to lie.

A study in 2002 found that increasing dopamine in skeptics resulted in their being more inclined to see faces in jumbled images. This study led to another study, which essential found a gene for believing in God. Again, a glib way to put it, but the point is this: seeing things that aren’t there is just a mild form of schizophrenia. But what if a second person is the source for HAD and TOM? What if this person tells you that the agent is called God and that He wants you to do certain things?

This is how religions are created. Not by seeing things and believing them, but by having those beliefs codified into rules of conduct. Passing false pattern recognition on to others for the purpose of control. And once it takes root, it is very easy to perpetuate: all agency is attributed to God.

But what’s not easy to perpetuate is attributing TOM. Lies require more energy from the brain than telling the truth. This effort requires a reward of some kind to compensate for the extra energy spent. But what is that reward? Is it simply survival? Being in power makes it easier to be less empathetic—are religious leaders merely making it easier for themselves to sacrifice others, this ensuring their own longevity?