Science & the Big Questions

Scientists Are Totally Rethinking Animal Cognition

What science can tell us about how other creatures experience the world.

The Atlantic

Topics: Animal Studies Cognition Consciousness

How to Have Productive Disagreements About Politics and Religion

Research suggests people intuitively draw a distinction between what is known and what is believed. Recognizing the difference can help in ideological disagreements.

The Conversation

Topics: Belief Cognition Scientific Study of Religion Social Cognition

The Replication Crisis Is Killing Psychologists’ Theory of How the Body Influences the Mind

The replication crisis has shown that some of the most famous findings that fall within embodied cognition simply don’t hold up.

Quartz

Topics: Cognition Embodied Cognition

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

The cognitive similarities between institutional life and religion.

Science on 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.

The Conversation

Topics: Belief Cognition Faith Ritual

A ‘Self-Aware’ Fish Raises Doubts About a Cognitive Test

A report that a fish can pass the “mirror test” for self-awareness reignites debates about how to define and measure that elusive quality.

Quanta Magazine

Topics: Animal Studies Cognition Empathy

‘Cheating’ Gorillas Show Clever Puzzle-Solving

Gorillas at a zoo in England have demonstrated a distinctly human trait while attempting to solve a new puzzle game — cheating.

Reuters

Topics: Animal Studies Cognition

Why Smart People Are Vulnerable to Putting Tribe Before Truth

Science literacy is important, but without the parallel trait of “science curiosity,” it can lead us astray.

Scientific American

Topics: Belief Cognition Curiosity Tribalism

Chimpanzee and Human Cooperation More Similar Than Previously Thought, Study Says

Alexandra Rosati said she was surprised to find chimpanzees have a fast prosocial bias similar to the one humans have.

The Michigan Daily

Topics: Animal Studies Cognition Cooperation Decision-Making

The Human Brain Evolved to Believe in Gods

Humans are a believing bunch. And evolutionary anthropologists say that’s no miracle. The origins and ubiquity of religious beliefs can be explained by evolutionary theory.

The Crux, Discover

Topics: Cognition Cooperation Evolution of Religion Scientific Study of Religion

A Long-Overlooked Brain Region May Be Key to Complex Thought

The thalamus has traditionally been viewed just as the brain’s sensory relay station. But it may also play an important role in higher-level cognition, MIT’s Michael Halassa explains in a Q&A.

Knowable Magazine

Topics: Cognition

Why Atheists Are Not as Rational as Some Like to Think

‘I don’t believe in God, I believe in science,’ atheists often argue. But that doesn’t mean their thinking is evidence-based.

The Conversation

Topics: Atheism Belief Cognition Rationality

What Made Us Unique

How we became a different kind of animal.

Scientific American

Topics: Animal Studies Cognition Cognitive Development Cultural Evolution Human Uniqueness Kevin Laland Social Behavior Social Learning

Religion, Belief, and Social Connections

An interview with Jonathan Morgan and Connor Wood.

Sinai and Synapses

Topics: Belief Cognition Cooperation Religiosity Scientific Study of Religion

Why Social Science Needs Evolutionary Theory

The lack of willingness to view human cognition and behavior as within the purview of evolutionary processes has prevented evolution from being fully integrated into the social science curriculum.

Nautilus

Topics: Cognition Cristine Legare Cultural Evolution Evolutionary Theory Social Behavior Social Learning

Harnessing the Power of Neuroscience

What if your brain at 77 were as plastic as it was at 7? What if you could learn Mandarin with the ease of a toddler or play Rachmaninoff without breaking a sweat? A growing understanding of neuroplasticity suggests these fantasies could one day become reality.

World Science Festival

Topics: Cognition Learning Neuroplasticity

Cognitive Style, Religious Beliefs, and Individualism

People whose cognitive style is analytical or reflective are less likely to be religious than people who think more holistically or intuitively. Why? A new paper argues that the real factor is individualism.

Science on Religion

Topics: Cognition Cooperation Religiosity Scientific Study of Religion

Jump-Starting Creativity

The Laboratory for Relational Cognition at Georgetown University explores the brain mechanisms that underlie creative thinking.

Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association

Topics: Cognition Creativity

The Believing Brain

The human brain has a compulsion to attribute meaning to what happens in our lives through a belief system.

All In The Mind, ABC Radio National

Topics: Agency Belief Brian Greene Cognition Meaning Spirituality

Study Suggests Meditating Can Prevent Age-Related Mental Decline

A recent study finds that a continuous meditation practice is associated with improvements in sustained attention.