Running Head : LEARNED FAITH Learned Faith : The influences of evolved cultural learning mechanisms on belief in gods

Productive research programs have emerged, targeting the cultural, cognitive, and evolutionary origins of both religious belief and—more recently—religious disbelief. The current paper examines the role of specific theoretically supported cultural learning strategies in the development of belief and disbelief in gods. Using a sample from the World Values Survey, we investigate the role that kin-biased transmission, conformist transmission, and credibility enhancing displays have on individuals’ beliefs in gods in 53 countries or regions worldwide. We test this relationship using a combination of signal detection analysis and multilevel modeling. The two separate analyses yield converging results, providing support for the necessary role of culture in the development of religious beliefs. This evidence supports models that place cultural learning (specifically context-biased transmission) central to the evolution of religious belief and disbelief, and suggest that revisions are necessary to popular cognitive byproduct frameworks that predict only a minimal role for culture.