Slone D. Jason - The Cognitive Science of Religion

THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF RELIGION

We dedicate this volume to our teacher, E. Thomas Lawson.

Scientific Studies of Religion: Inquiry and Explanation

SERIES EDITORS: LUTHER H. MARTIN, DONALD WIEBE, WILLIAM W. MCCORKLE JR., D. JASON SLONE AND RADEK KUNDT

Scientific Studies of Religion: Inquiry and Explanation publishes cutting-edge research in the new and growing field of scientific studies in religion. Its aim is to publish empirical, experimental, historical, and ethnographic research on religious thought, behaviour, and institutional structures. The series works with a broad notion of scientific that includes innovative work on understanding religion(s), both past and present. With an emphasis on cognitive science of religion, the series includes complementary approaches to the study of religion, such as psychology and computer modelling of religious data. Titles seek to provide explanatory accounts for the religious behaviors under review, both past and present.

THE ATTRACTION OF RELIGION

edited by D. Jason Slone and James A. Van Slyke

CONTEMPORARY EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES OF CULTURE AND THE STUDY OF RELIGION

Radek Kundt

DEATH ANXIETY AND RELIGIOUS BELIEF

Jonathan Jong and Jamin Halberstadt

THE MIND OF MITHRAISTS

Luther H. Martin

NEW PATTERNS FOR COMPARATIVE RELIGION

William E. Paden

PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF RELIGION

Robert N. McCauley with E. Thomas Lawson

RELIGION EXPLAINED?

edited by Luther H. Martin and Donald Wiebe

RELIGION IN SCIENCE FICTION

Steven Hrotic

RELIGIOUS EVOLUTION AND THE AXIAL AGE

Stephen K. Sanderson

THE ROMAN MITHRAS CULT

Olympia Panagiotidou with Roger Beck

THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF RELIGION

A METHODOLOGICAL INTRODUCTION TO KEY EMPIRICAL STUDIES

Edited by

D. Jason Slone and William W. McCorkle Jr.

BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

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First published in Great Britain 2019

Copyright D. Jason Slone, William W. McCorkle Jr. and Contributors 2019

D. Jason Slone and William W. McCorkle Jr. have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editors of this work.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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ISBN: HB: 978-1-3500-3369-6

PB: 978-1-3500-3368-9

ePDF: 978-1-3500-3371-9

eBook: 978-1-3500-3370-2

Series: Scientific Studies of Religion: Inquiry and Explanation | SSR

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CONTENTS

Figures

Tables

We thank Ken Ball, Klayton Cook, Dickson Hagan, Lucy Hutcheson, India Jones, Jordan Kendall, Tony Olorode, and Kathyrn Youngblood for providing comments on chapter drafts.

We thank Monique Bos for providing developmental edits to chapter drafts.

We thank Dr. Karin Fry and the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Georgia Southern University for support for this volume.

Quentin AtkinsonQuentin Atkinson is a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, and an associate professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand.

Justin BarrettJustin Barrett is the Thrive Professor of Developmental Science and program chair for the PhD in psychological science at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, USA.

Jesse BeringJesse Bering is an award-winning science writer and associate professor in the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.

Joseph BulbuliaJoseph Bulbulia is a professor in the School of Humanities at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand.

Russell GrayRussell Gray is a professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand.

Richard GroveRichard Grove is a doctoral student in the social psychology area of the general/experimental psychology program at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA.

Deborah HallDeborah L. Hall is an assistant professor in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, USA.

K. Mitch HodgeMitch Hodge is an associate lecturer at the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Danijela JerotijeviDanijela Jerotijevi is an assistant professor on the faculty of social and economic sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Jan KrtkJan Krtk is a PhD candidate at LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.

Justin E. LaneJustin Lane is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for the Bio-Cultural Study of Religion in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and a research associate at LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.

Martin LangMartin Lang is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a research associate at LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.

Kristin LaurinKristin Laurin is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Kirsten LesageKirsten Lesage is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside, in Riverside, California, USA.

Rita Anne McNamaraRita Anne McNamara is a lecturer in cross-cultural psychology in the School of Psychology and fellow of the Center for Cross-Cultural Research at the Victoria University of Wellington in Wellington, New Zealand.

Brian MalleyBrian Malley is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

William McCorkleWilliam McCorkle is a senior research associate and the former director at LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.

Kristoffer NielboKristoffer L. Nielbo is an associate professor in the School of Culture and SocietyInteracting Minds Centre at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark.

Ara NorenzayanAra Norenzayan is director of the Centre for Human Evolution, Cognition, and Culture and a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.