Memory and Belief in the Transmission of Counterintuitive Content
Cognitive scientists have increasingly turned to cultural transmission to explain the widespread nature of religion. One key hypothesis focuses on memory, proposing that that minimally counterintuitive (MCI) content facilitates the transmission of supernatural beliefs. We propose two caveats to this...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2016-09, Vol.27 (3), p.221-243 |
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| creator | Willard, Aiyana K. Henrich, Joseph Norenzayan, Ara |
| description | Cognitive scientists have increasingly turned to cultural transmission to explain the widespread nature of religion. One key hypothesis focuses on memory, proposing that that minimally counterintuitive (MCI) content facilitates the transmission of supernatural beliefs. We propose two caveats to this hypothesis. (1) Memory effects decrease as MCI concepts become commonly used, and (2) people do not believe counterintuitive content readily; therefore additional mechanisms are required to get from memory to belief. In experiments 1–3 (
n
= 283), we examined the relationship between MCI, belief, and memory. We found that increased tendencies to anthropomorphize predicted poorer memory for anthropomorphic-MCI content. MCI content was found less believable than intuitive content, suggesting different mechanisms are required to explain belief. In experiment 4 (
n
= 70), we examined the non-content-based cultural learning mechanism of credibility-enhancing displays (CREDs) and found that it increased participants’ belief in MCI content, suggesting this type of learning can better explain the transmission of belief. |
| doi_str_mv | 10.1007/s12110-016-9259-6 |
| format | Article |
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n
= 283), we examined the relationship between MCI, belief, and memory. We found that increased tendencies to anthropomorphize predicted poorer memory for anthropomorphic-MCI content. MCI content was found less believable than intuitive content, suggesting different mechanisms are required to explain belief. In experiment 4 (
n
= 70), we examined the non-content-based cultural learning mechanism of credibility-enhancing displays (CREDs) and found that it increased participants’ belief in MCI content, suggesting this type of learning can better explain the transmission of belief.</description><identifier>ISSN: 1045-6767</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1936-4776</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1007/s12110-016-9259-6</identifier><identifier>PMID: 27100109</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>New York: Springer US</publisher><subject>Adult ; Anthropology ; Behavioral Sciences ; Biological Psychology ; Cognitive ability ; Credibility ; Cultural transmission ; Culture ; Female ; Humans ; Intuition ; Learning ; Male ; Memory ; Religion ; Religion and Psychology ; Social Sciences ; Supernatural ; Young Adult</subject><ispartof>Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.), 2016-09, Vol.27 (3), p.221-243</ispartof><rights>Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016</rights><rights>COPYRIGHT 2016 Springer</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><oa>free_for_read</oa><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-c454t-98a248e1beea2fd92bff5e56493dabd28aa58c5d3c5c3eaa0405cd332d2d95e23</citedby><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c454t-98a248e1beea2fd92bff5e56493dabd28aa58c5d3c5c3eaa0405cd332d2d95e23</cites></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><linktopdf>$$Uhttps://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12110-016-9259-6$$EPDF$$P50$$Gspringer$$H</linktopdf><linktohtml>$$Uhttps://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12110-016-9259-6$$EHTML$$P50$$Gspringer$$H</linktohtml><link.rule.ids>314,776,780,27323,27903,27904,33753,41467,42536,51297</link.rule.ids><backlink>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27100109$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed$$Hfree_for_read</backlink></links><search><creatorcontrib>Willard, Aiyana K.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Henrich, Joseph</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Norenzayan, Ara</creatorcontrib><title>Memory and Belief in the Transmission of Counterintuitive Content</title><title>Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)</title><addtitle>Hum Nat</addtitle><addtitle>Hum Nat</addtitle><description>Cognitive scientists have increasingly turned to cultural transmission to explain the widespread nature of religion. One key hypothesis focuses on memory, proposing that that minimally counterintuitive (MCI) content facilitates the transmission of supernatural beliefs. We propose two caveats to this hypothesis. (1) Memory effects decrease as MCI concepts become commonly used, and (2) people do not believe counterintuitive content readily; therefore additional mechanisms are required to get from memory to belief. In experiments 1–3 (
n
= 283), we examined the relationship between MCI, belief, and memory. We found that increased tendencies to anthropomorphize predicted poorer memory for anthropomorphic-MCI content. MCI content was found less believable than intuitive content, suggesting different mechanisms are required to explain belief. In experiment 4 (
n
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One key hypothesis focuses on memory, proposing that that minimally counterintuitive (MCI) content facilitates the transmission of supernatural beliefs. We propose two caveats to this hypothesis. (1) Memory effects decrease as MCI concepts become commonly used, and (2) people do not believe counterintuitive content readily; therefore additional mechanisms are required to get from memory to belief. In experiments 1–3 (
n
= 283), we examined the relationship between MCI, belief, and memory. We found that increased tendencies to anthropomorphize predicted poorer memory for anthropomorphic-MCI content. MCI content was found less believable than intuitive content, suggesting different mechanisms are required to explain belief. In experiment 4 (
n
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| source | MEDLINE; Sociological Abstracts; Springer Nature - Complete Springer Journals |
| subjects | Adult Anthropology Behavioral Sciences Biological Psychology Cognitive ability Credibility Cultural transmission Culture Female Humans Intuition Learning Male Memory Religion Religion and Psychology Social Sciences Supernatural Young Adult |
| title | Memory and Belief in the Transmission of Counterintuitive Content |
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