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Religiosity

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The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality

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Abstract

Researchers have studied extensively regional variation in religious commitment and participation (religiosity). Such research, whether based on economic theory or evolutionary theory, emphasizes the high costs to individuals of religiosity. We have offered a new hypothesis of religiosity based on the parasite-stress theory of values. It relies on the theory of honest signaling in biology. We propose that religiosity is one important way that people engage in and display their in-group allegiance and boundary in order to avoid and manage infectious disease threats. In support of this, we provide evidence that religiosity is an aspect of in-group assortative sociality—and therefore an aspect of the behavioral immune system—and that religiosity correlates positively with parasite adversity, both cross-nationally and across states of the USA. We suggest additional tests of the parasite-stress theory’s application to religiosity. Other hypotheses of religiosity in the literature are evaluated. The parasite-stress theory of values appears to best account for religiosity and its diversity across regions. Our findings on religiosity have implications for a multitude of other areas of research such as secularization, health, ontogeny of religious values, life history, and geographical expansions of religion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Randy Thornhill

  2. Department of Psychology, The University of Warwick, Coventry, UK

    Corey L. Fincher

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  1. Randy Thornhill
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  2. Corey L. Fincher
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Thornhill, R., Fincher, C.L. (2014). Religiosity. In: The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08040-6_9

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