| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Nordin, Andreas, 1967
(författare)
-
Gauging oneiromancy—the cognition of dream content and cultural transmission of (supernatural) divination
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Religion, Brain and Behavior. - 2153-599X .- 2153-5981.
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dreaming is often connected with religious ideas and enjoys distinct epistemic status as a source of trusted information for divinatory practices—oneiromancy. These tendencies suggest the existence of a distinct content affordance relevance for dream divination, hypothesized in the “CARDD theory.” CARDD theory predicts that dreams containing nightmarish and threatening content, omission of self-agency models, bizarre and counterintuitive content, and SA imagery enhance the proclivity for dream communication and divination. Drawing upon ethnographic research among Nepalese Hindus, the purpose of the present article is to extend assumptions from cognitive and cultural transmission analysis of divination to the subcase of dream research and divination. The specific aims are (1) to quantify and compare dream contents according to their prevalence as described in CARDD theory, and (2) to test CARDD theory against the assumption that the dream contents have affordance value and provide motivation for dream communication and divination. According to the present data, however, only omission of self-agency models in dream imagery was significantly shown to predict dream communication and divination—a result that supports the idea that the formal features of “ostensive detachment” (Boyer, 2020; Mercier & Boyer, 2021) are decisive factors in cultural transmission of divinatory practices.
|
|
| 4. |
- Raffield, Benjamin, et al.
(författare)
-
Religious belief and cooperation : a view from Viking-Age Scandinavia
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Religion, Brain & Behavior. - : ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD. - 2153-599X .- 2153-5981. ; 9:1, s. 2-22
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study focuses on two hypotheses at the heart of a debate concerning cooperation, socio-political complexity, and religious belief. One of these contends that moralizing high gods (MHGs) were central to the development of complex societies. The key mechanism here is supernatural monitoring, which is the perception that gods observe humans and punish those who commit transgressions. The other hypothesis - the broad supernatural punishment (BSP) hypothesis - contends that it was fear of supernatural monitoring and punishment by non-MHG deities that fostered the development of socio-political complexity, and that MHGs followed rather than preceded the appearance of complex societies. To test between these hypotheses, we examined evidence for pre-Christian beliefs in Viking-Age Scandinavia (c. 750-1050 CE). We sought answers to two questions: (1) did the Vikings perceive themselves subject to supernatural monitoring and punishment? And (2) were the Norse gods MHGs? The evidence indicates that the Vikings believed themselves to be monitored by supernatural entities in some contexts, and that they could be punished for certain transgressions. However, the Norse gods do not meet all the criteria for recognition as MHGs. Taken together, these findings support the idea that socio-political complexity was fostered by non-MHG deities and not by MHGs.
|
|
| 5. |
- Roitto, Rikard, 1974-
(författare)
-
Dangerous but contagious altruism : recruitment of group members and reform of cooperation style through altruism in two modified versions of Hammond and Axelrod’s simulation of ethnocentric cooperation
- 2016
-
Ingår i: Religion, Brain & Behavior. - 2153-599X .- 2153-5981. ; 6:2, s. 154-168
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper explores the possibility of recruiting other agents to one's own kind and changing their cooperation style to one's own through altruistic generosity in a simulation. This is done by modifying Ross Hammond and Robert Axelrod's well-known simulation, which shows that ethnocentric behavior is the most successful strategy in a spatialized game of cooperation where color is the only attribute that agents can act on. Their simulation is altered in two steps. First, the simulation is changed so that each agent can “recruit” neighboring agents to its own color with a low probability R through out-group altruism toward non-cooperative out-group members. If recruitment is successful, there is also a probability M that the converted agent “morally reforms,” that is, changes cooperation style to the cooperative agent's style. The result is that the strategy of altruism can successfully compete with ethnocentric strategies if it leads to recruitment around 1–2% of the time, and a change of cooperation style to altruism around 0.4–0.5% of the time. Second, the simulation is altered so that only agents of one color, green, can recruit the other colors through altruism. The most obvious result of this simulation is that agents of this group become increasingly dominant with an increasing probability of recruitment. More interesting is that the overall proportion of altruists decreases and ethnocentrism becomes more dominant as a cooperation strategy compared to the first modified simulation, although not as dominant as in the original simulation by Hammond and Axelrod. That is, green can dominate the board through recruitment of other colors even though only some of the green agents are “proselytizing” altruists. The simulations have bearing on (1) how altruistic behavior spreads through cultural transmission in a population and (2) the historical problem of why apparently self-destructive behaviors of generosity and non-self-defense toward out-group individuals seems to have contributed to the expansion of religious movements in certain historical periods.
|
|
| 6. |
- Visuri, Ingela, 1976-
(författare)
-
Sensory supernatural experiences in autism
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Religion, Brain & Behavior. - : Routledge. - 2153-599X .- 2153-5981. ; 10:2, s. 151-165
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study examines attribution of supernatural agency in 17 Swedish, high-functioning young adults on the autism spectrum, who describe sensing presence, feeling touch, and seeing visions without input of somatosensory stimuli. These participants report many more such incidents than the matched, non-autistic group participants, and current research suggests that unusual somatosensory experiences are prevalent in the autistic population. Attribution of invisible agency is understood as a sense-making coping strategy, and it is argued that esoteric content in fantasy literature, movies and computer games explain why these young adults prefer to attribute agency to ghosts, spirits and demons, rather than god(s). The study thereby extends and challenges the study of autism and religiosity by exploring the intersection between autistic embodiment and encultured cognition.
|
|
| 7. |
- Rand, D.G., et al.
(författare)
-
Religious motivations for cooperation : An experimental investigation using explicit primes
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Religion, Brain and Behavior. - : Taylor & Francis (Routledge): STM, Behavioural Science and Public Health Titles. - 2153-599X. ; 4:1, s. 31-48
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The role of religion in human cooperation remains a highly contested topic. Recent studies using economic game experiments to explore this issue have been largely inconclusive, yielding a range of conflicting results. In this study, we investigate the ability of religion to promote cooperation by using explicit theological primes. In the first study, conducted in a church, we find that subjects who report a stronger connection with a Christian passage about charitable giving are subsequently more likely to cooperate in a one-shot prisoner's dilemma game. In the second study, conducted over the Internet, we find that Christian subjects are more likely to cooperate after reading a Christian passage than a neutral one. However, in the same study, we find that Hindu and secular passages have no significant effect on Christians, and that none of the passages (Christian, Hindu, or secular) have an effect on non-Christians. Our results show the potential power of explicitly religious exhortations that promote cooperation, and also their selectivity. © 2013 TaylorXX1Francis.
|
|
