Title:  Institutions and the Social Mind: How Evolved Psychology Fashions Cultural Norms

Abstract:  In many domains, social institutions display highly specific features that are common across cultures. This can be explained if we consider how evolved capacities and preferences in human minds make certain kinds of norms more "natural" than others, that is, more intuitive and compelling. This is illustrated here in three domains, marriage institutions, ownership rules and religious morality. In these three cases, cultural transmission ends up favoring institutions that are closer to evolved intuitions.