Evolutionary psychopathology and the origins of religion

Evolutionary psychopathology is the study of mental disorders that may have increased relative fitness (adaptive) in the ancestral environment but may not enhance fitness (maladaptive) in the present environment. Religious beliefs often include (1) visuospatial representations of a nonphysical entity, (2) physical artifacts depicting those representations, (3) rituals connected with the mental and physical representations, and (4) moral and ethical codes of conduct. Religious beliefs may have also increased relative fitness. Behaviors associated with various psychopathologies in the ancestral environment may have provided bases for the development of religion and its beliefs that subsequently increased relative fitness.