Though if we take “efficacy” to the include the social effects (say, persuading one’s co-religionists to assist after a loss that prompted the prayer), the universality looks quite plausible… Perhaps in the environment of evolutionary adaptation, hunter-gatherer bands were small enough that all prayer was effectively public, and this always applied, while private prayer might be a recent maladaptive generalization?
It could just be that prayer doesn’t hurt, and the combination of gratitude generally being useful and anthropomorphization being common results in people tending to pray.
Though if we take “efficacy” to the include the social effects (say, persuading one’s co-religionists to assist after a loss that prompted the prayer), the universality looks quite plausible… Perhaps in the environment of evolutionary adaptation, hunter-gatherer bands were small enough that all prayer was effectively public, and this always applied, while private prayer might be a recent maladaptive generalization?
It could just be that prayer doesn’t hurt, and the combination of gratitude generally being useful and anthropomorphization being common results in people tending to pray.