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Credibility Enhancing Displays (CRED)
John Vervaeke presents this from Jervis's research in his talk on cognition and religion:
Where it comes from
John Vervaeke presents this from Jervis's research in his talk on cognition and religion: > “What did they discover? People are religious based on what's called CRED. C-R-E-D. Credibility Enhancing Displays. This is when you look up and notice the word. It matters. It's informative. You look up to someone who's doing something that doesn't make sense to you. It seems costly. Yet, you trust them. So, you start to imitate them.” [~33:19]
How it works
- Old theory: People are religious because of hyperactive agency detection (evolutionary byproduct)
- Old theory: People are religious because of confirmation bias (irrationality)
- CRED theory: People are religious because they observe credible people doing costly things and trust them — the same mechanism by which children become rational