Jesse Bering is an evolutionary psychologist at Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK). He blogs at Bering in Mind on the Scientific American website. Read his latest post: Natural homophobes? Evolutionary psychology and antigay attitudes.
In that post, Bering takes seriously the idea that homophobia could be a character that evolved in our ancestors. The idea is that parents who were homophobic were more likely to be concerned about the sexual orientation of their children. If this led to more heterosexual children then the parents would have more grandchildren and the allele for homophobia would increase in the population.
To my mind this idea is so ridiculous it doesn't even merit discussion and it certainly should never be published in a "scientific" journal. Why is it that respected evolutionary psychologists think these just-so stories are an important part of their discipline? Does this mean that the entire discipline is suspect?1
Jesse Bering is the author of The God Instinct. I haven't read this book but I'm going to order a copy. Here's what he says on his website.
Why does even the most committed atheist turn to God when a family member falls seriously ill, or they find themselves in close personal danger? Using the latest scientific evidence, Jesse Bering explores how people's everyday thoughts, behaviours and emotions betray an innate tendency to reason as though God were deeply invested in their public lives and secret affairs.Jesse Bering sounds like a complicated person with interesting perspectives on evolution and religion. Here's what he says about himself on the website.
In this entertaining and thought-provoking book, he argues that this religious reflex is not an irrational aberration, and that God is not a cultural invention or an existential band-aid, but an intrinsic human trait, developed over millennia, that carries powerful evolutionary benefits.
Breaking new ground, The God Instinct uses hard science to show that God is not a delusion, but a sophisticated cognitive illusion. Bering reveals the roots of religion in our ability to think beyond our immediate surroundings, and explains why this capacity for belief sets us apart from other animals.
Jesse Bering is Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at the Queen's University, Belfast. An evolutionary psychologist, he is one of the principal investigators on the Explaining Religion Project.
The Institute's research focuses primarily on human social behaviour, and current topics range from people's belief in the afterlife to moral disgust over social offences. Funded by the EU, the John F Templeton Foundation and the US Air Force, it has projects running all over the world, including India, Mali and Cyprus.
Jesse writes a weekly column for Scientific American, ‘Bering in Mind’. The members of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences named the column an official 2010 Webby Honoree in the “blogcultural” category.
As well as being an acknowledged expert in his field, Jesse Bering is well known for his approachable and engaging popular writing. Born in the USA, he now lives in Northern Ireland.
1. Perceptive readers will see a connection between evolutionary psychology and adaptationism.
[Hat Tip: Joe at Canadian Atheist]