Afterlife Beliefs May Have Biological Basis:

‘A new study by a University of Arkansas psychologist proposes that beliefs about the afterlife may amount to more than a cultural construct. They may in fact have a biological basis – arising from the human brain’s unique ability to comprehend the mental states of other people.

In an article published in the November issue of The Journal of Cognition and Culture, assistant professor of psychology Jesse Bering outlines a study in which he demonstrated that even individuals who claim to believe that all consciousness ceases at death were inclined to say that certain psychological states persist. He calls this contradiction the Simulation Constraint Hypothesis of Death Representation.

“It comes down to the fact that we’re unable to imagine the absence of certain psychological states,” Bering said. “People make biological inferences about death – they know that once you’re dead, you don’t need to eat anymore. They also know that once you’re dead, your brain stops working. But because they’ve never experienced a complete lack of thought, they find it difficult to make that inferential leap – that once the brain stops, thought stops too.” ‘

I think that what relates to the inability to imagine the cessation of thought and consciousness is the fear of dying oneself. It is less related to the capacity for ‘theory of mind’ or empathy than one’s own narcissism.