The Imagination of a Cultural Animal

Abstract Imaginary realities are the various ways we transform and distort reality in order to make it more comprehensible and to enable us to believe we have some degree of understanding and control over what happens to us. There are many aspects to imaginary realities, including religious beliefs, magical beliefs, superstitions, and folk beliefs (such as beliefs in “fate” and luck). Imaginary realities are an entrenched part of our psychology because we are cultural animals. This means that we rely less on instincts and inherited behavior patterns than other animals do; instead, we have an immense capacity for cultural learning, and we use this capacity to learn not only specific cultural skills but a framework of cultural beliefs that almost always include elements of supernatural, magical, and folk beliefs. Imaginary realities create psychological niches that enable us to comprehend the physical and social worlds and act effectively in them. They stoke our fears of the future but also assuage them by providing us with the belief that we can predict and control what happens around us. Imaginary realities have been described over the millennia by philosophers and historians, and more recently by anthropologists and psychologists. Anthropologists have described numerous human universals that include aspects of imaginary realities, such as beliefs about the causes of disease and about fortune and misfortune. This book offers a psychological perspective on imaginary realities, but not a cure; imaginary realities are an entrenched part of our psychology, and we need them to function in the world.