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So on Nova Tuesday night they showed examples of Bonobos using a routine series of behavior and authority to obtain candy from a box with a false bottom. If I were keeping score I would have given a Bonobo a point over a 6 year old based on the ability for bucking perceived authority.

There is a synopsis of the experiment here:

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=107046

I doubt it is to do with ritualistic behaviour. more likely that hildren are less instinctual than chimps. So they just do what they have seen others do.

Imwashingmypirate wrote:I doubt it is to do with ritualistic behaviour. more likely that hildren are less instinctual than chimps. So they just do what they have seen others do.

that's exactly my point, that there is an inherent need to obey authority in children.

So who are you on this randi board???

Mercury wrote:

Imwashingmypirate wrote:I doubt it is to do with ritualistic behaviour. more likely that hildren are less instinctual than chimps. So they just do what they have seen others do.

that's exactly my point, that there is an inherent need to obey authority in children.

It's evolutionary. 15,000 years ago a six year old that didn't obey her parents would probably end up as something's lunch. This is why religion is so effective, like cocaine, it exploits our brain chemistry.

LOL. That is most likely to be true.

Mercury wrote:

Imwashingmypirate wrote:I doubt it is to do with ritualistic behaviour. more likely that hildren are less instinctual than chimps. So they just do what they have seen others do.

that's exactly my point, that there is an inherent need to obey authority in children.

I didn't look at the link yet, Mercury. There is an inherent need to obey authority in children at specific stages in their development. The age you cite, 6 years old, is just entering a stage of moral development and reasoning that put's them in the authority/rulebound/obedience stage.

That is why no 8 year old will resist being baptized in the LDS Church. Not meaning to derail your topic. Just saying.

John Larsen wrote:

Mercury wrote:

Imwashingmypirate wrote:I doubt it is to do with ritualistic behaviour. more likely that hildren are less instinctual than chimps. So they just do what they have seen others do.

that's exactly my point, that there is an inherent need to obey authority in children.

It's evolutionary. 15,000 years ago a six year old that didn't obey her parents would probably end up as something's lunch. This is why religion is so effective, like cocaine, it exploits our brain chemistry.

Totally agree.

Religion, like any other cultural phenomenon must wrap itself around the collective human Genome.

Mercury wrote:

John Larsen wrote:

Mercury wrote:

Imwashingmypirate wrote:I doubt it is to do with ritualistic behaviour. more likely that hildren are less instinctual than chimps. So they just do what they have seen others do.

that's exactly my point, that there is an inherent need to obey authority in children.

It's evolutionary. 15,000 years ago a six year old that didn't obey her parents would probably end up as something's lunch. This is why religion is so effective, like cocaine, it exploits our brain chemistry.

Totally agree.

Religion, like any other cultural phenomenon must wrap itself around the collective human Genome.

Profundity on a Friday evening, thy name is Mercury. Would it be inaccurate to say that religion was birthed via the human Genome? Are we wrapping our inner selves around our inner selves?

Mercury wrote:So on Nova Tuesday night they showed examples of Bonobos using a routine series of behavior and authority to obtain candy from a box with a false bottom. If I were keeping score I would have given a Bonobo a point over a 6 year old based on the ability for bucking perceived authority.

That was a great show (of course Nova usually is). I loved the 4-year-olds in the delayed-gratification experiment, who ate the gummi bear immediately, one of them before the lady was even out of the room.