New research finds that a belief in supernatural events may be wired into us
Supernatural explanations can serve a variety of other, similar functions as well, like justifying social arrangements and activities. For instance, they can provide spiritual legitimacy to explain why the king gets to be in charge, why a crusade against the nation’s enemies is righteous and holy, or why certain behaviors are forbidden and therefore criminal.
Overall, they found these explanations for baffling phenomena were common across the entire sample. However, they occurred much more frequently for natural phenomena than for social ones. For example, 92 percent of the cultures had supernatural understandings of what causes diseases. Conversely, only 49 percent commonly explained warfare through supernatural mechanisms. While the latter figure is still impressive, it pales in comparison to the former.
This suggests but does not prove that supernatural thinking about the natural world could be a prerequisite for socially oriented supernatural thought.
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