Why Do Humans Embrace Rituals? Disease and Danger May Be at the Root of the Behaviors
While the origins of many rituals remain murky, emerging research suggests we evolved such social practices to ward off or address common threats.
National Geographic
Topics: Cristine Legare Cultural Evolution Ritual
Is Your Society Good for (Biological) Fitness?
Remember that there are two major biological objectives in life, survival and reproduction.
Science on Religion
Topics: Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Ritual Scientific Study of Religion
How God Works
David DeSteno and PopTech welcome you to explore a new way to think about the science behind spiritual practices and the ways in which they might boost wellbeing.
PopTech 2020
Topics: Compassion Faith Resilience Ritual Spirituality
Why Do We Miss the Rituals Put On Hold By the COVID-19 Pandemic?
These traditions bind us to our groups and can help calm us.
Science News
Topics: Bonding Cooperation Cristine Legare Emotion Group Identity Ritual
How the Sound of Religion Has Changed in the Pandemic
A team of scholars have been documenting the sound of worship for six years. Since the lockdown, they have heard a different form of religious expression.
The Conversation
Topics: Religious Change Religious Groups Ritual
Religious Experience and Homo Duplex
Where does religious experience come from? In a new article, Connor Wood combines Durkheim’s concept of Homo Duplex, Victor Turner’s concept of antistructure, and a healthy dose of contemporary social cognitive science to offer a new approach to this question.
Topics: Ritual Scientific Study of Religion Social Cognition
The Necessity of Awe
In awe we hold fast to nature’s strangeness and open up to the unknown. No wonder it’s central to the scientific imagination.
Aeon
Topics: Awe Emotion Ritual Transformation
Animal Grief Shows We Aren’t Meant to Die Alone
The coronavirus pandemic is robbing some people of a chance to come together to mourn: a practice deeply embedded in many animal species.
SAPIENS
Topics: Animal Studies Barbara King Death Emotion Ritual
Why People Need Rituals, Especially in Times of Uncertainty
As the coronavirus spreads and life comes to a standstill, people are coming up with a host of rituals to maintain a sense of order and human connection.
Topics: Belonging Bonding Resilience Ritual
Masks Don’t Help, But Tossing Salt Over the Shoulder? Why People Want to Believe
Research shows that ‘magical thinking’ offers comfort during a crisis.
The Washington Post
Topics: Belief Ritual
A Look Back Into Humanity’s Collective History, Through Religious Rituals and Practices
In a Q&A, psychology doctoral student David Yaden describes his new book, which touches on traditions from Hinduism, Buddhism, and 11 other religions.
Penn Today
Topics: Religious Groups Ritual
Extreme Rituals and Health: A Surprising Match
Participation in a bloody, dangerous, outrageously grueling religious ritual — at the height of the tropical summer, no less — somehow leads to more positive ratings on a measure that predicts all-around health with impressive accuracy.
Topics: Coping Resilience Ritual Scientific Study of Religion
Being Copycats Might Be Key to Being Human
A quirk of psychology that affects the way people learn from others may have helped unlock the complicated technologies and rituals that human culture hinges on.
Topics: Cultural Evolution Ritual Social Learning
The Psychological and Social Importance of Postures During Worship
Postures and gestures have been selected by religions over time to promote the kinds of individual and collective feelings and attitudes that religions value.
Character & Context, Society for Personality and Social Psychology
Topics: Embodied Cognition Religious Groups Ritual
How Hearts Align in a Muslim Ritual
An important Sufi ritual brings participants together in a shared experience of trance and movement that actually synchronizes their heartbeats.
Topics: Ritual
The Dancing Species: How Moving Together in Time Helped Make Us Human
Dancing is a human universal, but why?
Topics: Empathy Human Evolution Ritual
Do Humans Have a ‘Religion Instinct’?
BBC Future
Topics: Andrew Newberg Belief Bonding Evolution of Religion Morality Religiosity Ritual Scientific Study of Religion Spirituality
Is Ritual a Tool for Resilience?
The relationship between religion, ritual, and cultural resilience.
Topics: Nature Religiosity Resilience Ritual Scientific Study of Religion
How and Why Did Religion Evolve?
Topics: Animal Studies Bonding Emotion Empathy Evolution of Religion Ritual Scientific Study of Religion
Following Conflict, a Turn to the Divine
Study shows that many who experience the trauma of war become increasingly religious.
The Harvard Gazette
Topics: Cooperation Group Conflict Religiosity Religious Groups Ritual Violence
What Science Can Learn From Religion
Hostility toward spiritual traditions may be hampering empirical inquiry.
The New York Times
Topics: David DeSteno Meditation Models of Science & Religion Ritual Science & Religion Dialogue Spirituality
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