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.
The Conversation
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.
Science on Religion
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.
SAPIENS
Topics: Ritual
The Dancing Species: How Moving Together in Time Helped Make Us Human
Dancing is a human universal, but why?
Aeon
Topics: Empathy Human Evolution Ritual
Do Humans Have a ‘Religion Instinct’?
Are spiritual beliefs an inevitable consequence of evolution?
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?
Can the roots of spiritual behaviors and feelings be found in other animals?
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
War and Religion
Survey data from Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Tajikistan shows that people with greater exposure to war were more likely to participate in Christian or Muslim religious groups and rituals.
CIFAR
Topics: Religiosity Religious Groups Ritual Violence
Mysterious People of North America’s First Native City Welcomed Immigrants, Scientists Discover
Cahokia, with its 30m Monk’s Mound pyramid, was a cultural hub for 250 years — before its peoples vanished.
Newsweek
Topics: Religious Change Ritual Spirituality
Gods Are Everywhere Because It’s Hard to Bargain With Them
The cognitive similarities between institutional life and religion.
Topics: Cognition Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Imagination Religiosity Ritual Scientific Study of Religion
Why Are People Religious? A Cognitive Perspective
These psychological adaptations help us to sustain belief in religion.
Topics: Belief Cognition Faith Ritual
Are Your Political Beliefs Like a Religion?
A new way of thinking about religion suggests that the answer is yes.
Topics: Meaning Ritual
Synthesizing Empirical Findings and Theory in the Scientific Study of Religion
The SEFT Project is an initiative to survey the work that’s been done in the scientific study of religion thus far — to step back and take a bird’s-eye view of what the field has accomplished, where it’s come from, and where it might go next.
Topics: Evolution of Religion Ritual Scientific Study of Religion
When and Why Do People Become Atheists? New Study Uncovers Important Predictors
The less that parents “walk the walk” about religious beliefs, the more likely their children are to walk away.
Big Think
Topics: Atheism Belief Religious Change Ritual Scientific Study of Religion
Creating God
An in-depth look at a provocative idea about the origin and purpose of the world’s religions.
Hidden Brain, NPR
Topics: Azim Shariff Belief Cooperation Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Faith Religiosity Ritual Trust
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