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Evolution of Religion

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November 2020

November 23, 2020

Ritual, Play, and the Landscape of Value

Back in October, I was privileged to give the keynote talk at a Toronto School...

September 2020

September 29, 2020

Religions as Complex Adaptive Systems

A shouting match is often perversely compelling in the same way that a road accident...

May 2020

May 18, 2020

The Natural Origins of Obligation

The evolutionary developmental psychologist Michael Tomasello argues that, while other animals experience sympathy, the specific...

January 2020

January 28, 2020

Why Humans Imitate. And Imitate. And Imitate.

Life in 21st-century America – or any wealthy Western nation, really – is a nonstop...

January 15, 2020

Extreme Rituals and Health: A Surprising Match

With the possible exception of scrolling through Twitter, it’s hard to imagine an activity less...

November 2019

November 23, 2019

Videos on War and Painful Ritual

Back in the spring, the Center for Mind and Culture and I hosted a colloquium for...

November 09, 2019

What Distinguishes Humans from Chimps? Vocal Learning and Ritual.

The neuroscientist Björn Merker argues that humans, unlike chimpanzees, have "ritual culture" – culture that...

July 2019

July 03, 2019

First Came the Temple – Then the City?

Looking at the world's towns and cities from above, a fascinating pattern appears: we build...

May 2019

May 28, 2019

Did Big Gods Come Before or After Big Societies?

Do "big gods" – supernatural beings who care about human morality and fairness – help...

March 2019

March 16, 2019

How to Do Interdisciplinary Work that Works

This past weekend, a group of senior scholars met for a colloquium in Boston to...

March 08, 2019

A Big Weekend in Boston

Religion is a complicated nut to crack. It encompasses some of the most private and...

February 2019

February 07, 2019

We Trust Religious People More Because They’re Less Sexy

Why do people – even atheists – tend to trust religious believers more? A scientific...

January 2019

January 09, 2019

Gods Are Everywhere Because It’s Hard to Bargain With Them

Why do so many people worship invisible beings, accept the authority of millennia-old texts, or...

December 2018

December 22, 2018

How to “Grow” Shamanism in a Computer Model

Want to try something really difficult? Be a researcher who studies religion in its many...

September 2018

September 21, 2018

New Project: Synthesizing Empirical Findings and Theory in the Scientific Study of Religion

There are a lot of fields of study in the modern university. You could major...

August 2018

August 30, 2018

Fun Conference Recap: The International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion 2018

A lot of science happens when scientists are alone. There are the late nights coding...

June 2018

June 28, 2018

Does Marching to the Same Rhythm Always Unite Us? Our New Study Says No

We humans love rhythm. Music, dancing, clapping, singing – no matter what form it comes...

January 2018

January 11, 2018

Why meaning is more important for humans than comfort

Religion does many things. It can form bonds between people, foment conflicts, and inspire people...

November 2017

November 22, 2017

How Religion Is Like Play

Is religion a form of play? I asked this question in a recent article in Orbiter,...

October 2017

October 31, 2017

Yes, religion is connected with morality. Here’s how

One of the most common ideas about religion is that it’s somehow intrinsically connected with...

July 2017

July 14, 2017

Supernatural punishment and the evolution of cooperation

Scientist Dominic Johnson thinks belief in supernatural punishment drove the evolution of cooperation. A new...

June 2017

June 26, 2017

Rituals boost self-control

Maybe you’ve heard of the “marshmallow experiment” for testing people's self-control. In this classic psychology...

April 2017

April 04, 2017

Is a global community really possible?

This was supposed to be an era of globalism and tolerance. But if we want...

February 2017

February 24, 2017

Want to study the science of religion? Start with this MOOC

A science of religion would help us understand some baffling things. Why do otherwise normal...

November 2016

November 29, 2016

Overworked? Try a little ritual

Human ritual is an evolutionary product of the behavioral instinct for play. Without that instinct,...

August 2016

August 04, 2016

Religion builds self-control and excludes outsiders – simultaneously

A new model suggests that religion may benefit mental health by building adherents' self-control. The...

March 2016

March 21, 2016

How “big gods” make us play nice

Believing in gods that care about human morality may encourage people to treat each other...