The most economic answer is that they are merely simplistic expressions of the hopes, fears, and doubts that underlie the workings of primitive mentalities anywhere.
The people have turned their backs on the scientific knowledge and took refuge in the primitive mentality of religion and medieval mysticism.
Objectivism contends that by upholding reason and the value of the individual, a culture is able to reject the "primitive mentality that cower(s) before the forces of nature" and "the dictates of mystical authorities."
For example, Lucien Lévy-Bruhl claimed that "the primitive mentality is a condition of the human mind, and not a stage in its historical development."
To think of God as a particular being was idolatry and the sign of a primitive mentality.
People in The Seasons are drawn realistically, with their labors, experiences, cares, and primitive mentality, abounding with mythology.
His primary field of study involved primitive mentality.
In a learned but demanding demonstration, the author describes how "the so-called primitive mentality" works.
He argued against those scholars who sustained that there is a "primitive mentality" distinct from modern methods of thought.
Such descents, according to a view which Eliot found 'very interesting', allowed the poet privileged access to a primitive mentality.