Belief as a Survival Mechanism

September 16, 2026

Belief as a Survival Mechanism

This is the second part of a series on Belief. Part 1: We are born to believe

Summary of Part 1

Belief and trust are foundational to human survival and daily existence long before reason or critical thinking develop. Drawing on developmental psychologist Erik Erikson’s concept of "basic trust" in infancy and theologian Hans Küng’s notion of "fundamental trust" in reality, the post refutes Sigmund Freud's view that faith is merely an infantile illusion to be discarded for pure reason. Instead, Albert Camus's The Plague is used to illustrate that whether rooted in God or human solidarity, a fundamental trust in the value of existence is essential for everyone to navigate and find meaning in the world.

From Adobe Stock

For both the non-religious Dr Rieux and the religious Paneloux, faith acts as a survival mechanism in the time of catastrophe. From an evolutionary perspective, belief is not merely useful, it is necessary.

Our ancestors lived in environments full of dangers: predators, poisonous plants, hostile tribes, floods, storms, and disease. They often had only seconds to decide whether something was dangerous. Waiting for complete certainty would prove fatal. Imagine hearing rustling in nearby bushes. It could be the innocuous breeze. But it could also be a hungry leopard. The person who immediately assumes danger may occasionally run away unnecessarily. But the person who always waits for conclusive proof may become the leopard’s dinner.

Natural selection favours minds that make quick judgments under uncertainty.

Psychologists sometimes describe the human brain as a prediction machine. It constantly fills gaps in information by making educated guesses based on previous experience. Most of these guesses work remarkably well. Some become prejudices. Some become scientific hypotheses. Some become religious convictions. All begin with the same mental ability: the capacity to believe before certainty arrives.

Evolution shaped brains that could detect patterns, infer hidden causes, recognise intentions, and anticipate danger. These abilities made our ancestors extraordinarily successful. Yet they also made us vulnerable to illusions, conspiracy theories, and false beliefs. At any rate, they teach us that belief is very natural to humans.

In Camus’s The Plague, when rats begin dying and the first human cases emerge, the citizens of Oran refuse to believe that a plague is upon them. They invent alternative explanations: it is a passing illness, the authorities are exaggerating, things will soon return to normal. Even the authorities hesitate to use the word ‘plague’ because of its psychological and economic consequences.

This is a classical example of the brain preferring a comforting belief to an alarming reality. The evidence is present, but people resist accepting it because the truth is too disruptive. Modern psychology calls this normalcy bias, the tendency to assume that life will continue as usual despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

The people of Oran first deny the existence of the plague, then search for explanations that preserve their familiar worldview. Some see in it divine punishment. People like Cottard who is a wanted criminal are happy that the catastrophe has diverted attention from them. He even profits from the crisis through black-market activities. Cottard and others like him can facilely reinterpret reality in self-serving ways. His beliefs about the plague are shaped less by evidence than by his personal interests.

The same cognitive mechanisms that evolved to help us survive by making quick inferences can also produce denial, superstition, conspiracy theories, and false beliefs. Humans tend to seek out the solaces of comforting beliefs whenever disasters strike them.

When the plague known as the Black Death (1347-1351) swept across Europe, killing between one-third and one-half of the population of many regions, people struggled to understand what was happening. Many thought of it as God’s punishment for sin. Some produced astrological theories which were not true at all but gave some solace by putting the blame in the outer space. There was even a conspiracy theory that the Jews were poisoning wells. Members of certain religious communities took to whipping themselves in order to appease God’s wrath.

There was religious revival. But there was also horrific persecution of innocent communities. The need for certainty produced both faith and violence.

The infamous Salem witch trials of the seventeenth century show how anxiety, social tensions, and religious conviction can combine to create a self-reinforcing system of false beliefs.

But beliefs persisted. That is the point here.

When catastrophe destroys our sense of order, the human mind hungers for explanations that restore meaning and control. Unfortunately, the explanations that satisfy our emotional needs are not always those best supported by evidence.