What is it?
Agent detection AKA Hyperactive Agent Detection Device (Novella.2010) is our mind needing to give a reason for something we can not explain. We must tell ourselves that the universe and nature has order and there is a reason behind something that happened.
According to Vexen Crabtree, Agent detectionis a form of Pareidolia which is our "mind's ability to gather patterns from data"
According to Vexen Crabtree, Agent detectionis a form of Pareidolia which is our "mind's ability to gather patterns from data"
How does this relate to our behavior?
This explains why if even when no threat can be seen we put pieces together in our mind there is one. We are on alert in case of an attack, in the form of a bear or heartbreak. Although psychiatry labels this a symptom of mental illness, as you can see it is a result of survival and a strategy to survival.
According to social psychologists and animal behaviorists, It is a survival instinct to act as a threat is present and be prepared and there not be one, than to not be prepared and a threat be present.
This also explains why people observe a religious figure when they can not see it. They need an explanation for something they hear or see but are unsure of. Religious people see this mystery as a God, but others, including non-human animals may see this as something like a person or a threat is somewhere near.
Where a non-human animal may detect a threat, humans may detect a spiritual presence, or the feeling something is not right, or the unnerving feeling something will happen (may be getting dumped,etc.)
Where flight or flight is about observable concrete objects, agent detection is more focused on observing a stimulus that can not be seen in the present time and putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Agent detection explains why we place things together whether they are correct, or not to be able to have a reason why something happened.
Agent detection can be explain why we credit a religious God when someone made a miraculous recovery, and why we come to the conclusion our partner is cheating on us because he liked another woman's picture. We need to have a reason why he liked her pictures even though their actually might not be a reason. Maybe he liked a tree in the background, or the effects on the picture, but because we need a reason to explain it, we credit it to him liking her.
An example given by Steven Novella is conspiracy theorists needing to make sense of a situation such as Sandy Hook and feeling that the government was behind it. We need a reason behind something happening and due to agent detection and using it to stay alive, we need to believe in the worst possible scenario.
Agent detection comes from observing patterns, and putting the pieces of a metaphorical puzzle together.
Labeling people due to agent detection
This can also explain why we need to label shooters and criminals as insane, and why we must give credit to obesity (instead of unhealthy eating and sedentary lifestyle) as a reason for some illnesses such as diabetes. Sometimes people just get sick, and sometimes people just snap, but because we need an explanation we contribute these things to mental illness and body size. We must "detect" some reason why things happen and if we can't provide a concrete reason we make one. We must believe that everything has a reason and order when sometimes their is chaos. Not everyone who shoots up a school is mentally ill, but we label them as such to keep the world and nature in an order to remind ourselves life has order.
Labeling people who don't use agent detection as not having a normal brain
Interesting to note is that of autism, as stated by Youtube user Religion, Atheism, Science, when people where shown a simple movie where a circle and two triangles where colliding into each other and the circle moved itself into a rectangle that was also shown and asked to describe the movie the people attributed human emotions,etc. onto them. The interesting part is when some people talked about how in the movie all they saw were simple geometric shapes they were labeled as autistic and mentally ill.
According to social psychologists and animal behaviorists, It is a survival instinct to act as a threat is present and be prepared and there not be one, than to not be prepared and a threat be present.
This also explains why people observe a religious figure when they can not see it. They need an explanation for something they hear or see but are unsure of. Religious people see this mystery as a God, but others, including non-human animals may see this as something like a person or a threat is somewhere near.
Where a non-human animal may detect a threat, humans may detect a spiritual presence, or the feeling something is not right, or the unnerving feeling something will happen (may be getting dumped,etc.)
Where flight or flight is about observable concrete objects, agent detection is more focused on observing a stimulus that can not be seen in the present time and putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
Agent detection explains why we place things together whether they are correct, or not to be able to have a reason why something happened.
Agent detection can be explain why we credit a religious God when someone made a miraculous recovery, and why we come to the conclusion our partner is cheating on us because he liked another woman's picture. We need to have a reason why he liked her pictures even though their actually might not be a reason. Maybe he liked a tree in the background, or the effects on the picture, but because we need a reason to explain it, we credit it to him liking her.
An example given by Steven Novella is conspiracy theorists needing to make sense of a situation such as Sandy Hook and feeling that the government was behind it. We need a reason behind something happening and due to agent detection and using it to stay alive, we need to believe in the worst possible scenario.
Agent detection comes from observing patterns, and putting the pieces of a metaphorical puzzle together.
Labeling people due to agent detection
This can also explain why we need to label shooters and criminals as insane, and why we must give credit to obesity (instead of unhealthy eating and sedentary lifestyle) as a reason for some illnesses such as diabetes. Sometimes people just get sick, and sometimes people just snap, but because we need an explanation we contribute these things to mental illness and body size. We must "detect" some reason why things happen and if we can't provide a concrete reason we make one. We must believe that everything has a reason and order when sometimes their is chaos. Not everyone who shoots up a school is mentally ill, but we label them as such to keep the world and nature in an order to remind ourselves life has order.
Labeling people who don't use agent detection as not having a normal brain
Interesting to note is that of autism, as stated by Youtube user Religion, Atheism, Science, when people where shown a simple movie where a circle and two triangles where colliding into each other and the circle moved itself into a rectangle that was also shown and asked to describe the movie the people attributed human emotions,etc. onto them. The interesting part is when some people talked about how in the movie all they saw were simple geometric shapes they were labeled as autistic and mentally ill.
References
Seidensticker, B. (2012, February 11). Word of the Day: Hyperactive Agency Detection. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined/2012/02/word-of-the-day-hyperactive-agency-detection/
Novella, S. (n.d.). NeuroLogica Blog » Hyperactive Agency Detection. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/hyperactive-agency-detection/
Atheism and the City. "Hyperactive Agency Detection - A Just-So Story?" Hyperactive Agency Detection — A Just-So Story? Accessed November 16, 2017. http://www.atheismandthecity.com/2015/03/hyperactive-agency-detection-just-so.html.
Religion, Atheism, Science. Psychology of Belief Part 9: Agent Detection. Video. April 6, 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtDGI7Qzt88
Crabtree, Vexen. "Hyperactive Agent Detection Device (the Psychology of Religion and Superstition)." Www.humanreligions.info. 2017. Accessed November 16, 2017. http://www.humanreligions.info/hyperactive_agent_detection.html.
Seidensticker, B. (2012, February 11). Word of the Day: Hyperactive Agency Detection. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from http://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined/2012/02/word-of-the-day-hyperactive-agency-detection/
Novella, S. (n.d.). NeuroLogica Blog » Hyperactive Agency Detection. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/hyperactive-agency-detection/
Atheism and the City. "Hyperactive Agency Detection - A Just-So Story?" Hyperactive Agency Detection — A Just-So Story? Accessed November 16, 2017. http://www.atheismandthecity.com/2015/03/hyperactive-agency-detection-just-so.html.
Religion, Atheism, Science. Psychology of Belief Part 9: Agent Detection. Video. April 6, 2012.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtDGI7Qzt88
Crabtree, Vexen. "Hyperactive Agent Detection Device (the Psychology of Religion and Superstition)." Www.humanreligions.info. 2017. Accessed November 16, 2017. http://www.humanreligions.info/hyperactive_agent_detection.html.