Cognitive Biases or Errors Are at the Heart of Religion [View all]

We humans make most decisions based on emotional, intuitive, or instinctive grounds. It's no wonder. The more primitive parts of our brains, the parts we share with other vertebrates and mammals, are all about survival, reproduction and food. If we don't pay attention to those needs, we die off.

We're lucky enough to have also evolved a hefty cerebral cortex that is capable of reasoning, rather than just reacting, but we often forget to use it for some of the most important decisions we make. Instead, we let our fast-thinking old parts of the brain handle most things.

It's amazing that we've managed to survive, really, because we have to be social, creative, reasoning critters. We're too weak to compete otherwise. We have to be able to figure out ways to overcome our weaknesses. But, when it comes down to brass tacks, we still often react like our ancient evolutionary ancestors.

It's a complex thing, decision-making. Sometimes we do well, but other times, we behave quite stupidly. Religion is one of those times. Lacking any evidence, we believe because it lets us forget some basic facts. We fear dying, so we believe that we'll go on after our bodies stop.

Humans are smart, but silly, emotional, error-prone primates.