A fascinating study about how our psychology relates to institutions. But permit me to highlight some problems. 1/n
sciencenews.org/article/mediev…
sciencenews.org/article/mediev…
This study takes the spread of the "church" as the independent variable. It then shows that this spread correlates with a host of behavioral changes, including a drop in cousin marriages and a change to more individualistic personalities. 2/n
The study concludes that the spread of the church caused the other changes. At first, this sounds superficially convincing. But after thinking about it, there's big problems. 3/n
Here's the thing. The church isn't a "thing". It's a set of ideas and practices. So this study links the spread of one set of ideas and practices (the church) with the spread of other ideas and practices (drop in cousin marriage), more WEIRD psycology, etc. 4/n
Now, the church seems to have gotten obsessed with cousin marriage (and incest of all types) and sought to ban this. This practice, the authors think, triggered the break up of kin networks, leading to more individualism. 5/n
But why did the church get obsessed with these things? Where did these ideas come from? And why were people willing to adopt them? In other words, why did the ideas of the church spread some places, but not others? 6/n
To conclude, the authors of this study identify a fascinating correlation. But then they get caught in the trap of econometrics --- the search for simple, linear causation. We don't need this trap. 7/n
Think about it this way. The authors find that the spread of ideas that frown on cousin marriage (i.e. the church) correlate with a decline in cousin marriage. But where did these ideas come from? If you insist on linear causation, they have to come outside society. 8/n
