The prosocial benefits of seeing purpose in life events: A case of cultural selection in action?

Abstract

Norenzayan et al. propose that religious beliefs with incidental prosocial effects propagated via a long-term process of cultural evolution. Applying their model, I explore a possible candidate target of cultural selection: the teleological view - often culturally elaborated as a belief in karma or fate - that life events occur to punish or reward individuals' moral behavior.