Despite how it may seem, we humans are extraordinarily good at cooperation. We take care of each other’s kids. We help each other move. And, in large complex societies like our own, we (mostly) abide by the rules that make it possible for us to live together in relative peace. Sure, it may seem like developed, Western societies are being torn apart by factionalism and in-fighting, and in many ways they are – but recent political unrest only conceals what… Read more
September 29, 2018
Cooperation Thrives When We (Mostly) Prefer People We Already Know
September 29, 2018 By Connor Wood
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September 21, 2018
New Project: Synthesizing Empirical Findings and Theory in the Scientific Study of Religion
September 21, 2018 By Connor Wood
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There are a lot of fields of study in the modern university. You could major in biology or German literature. You could study philosophy, chemistry, or neuroscience, or delve into Slavic languages. But the scientific study of religion – that is, the study of religious beliefs and behaviors using the tools of the cognitive, evolutionary, and biological sciences – is a little different. It’s not a recognized field with its own departments and professors. You can’t really major in it…. Read more
August 30, 2018
Fun Conference Recap: The International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion 2018
August 30, 2018 By Connor Wood
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A lot of science happens when scientists are alone. There are the late nights coding data in the lab, with only the clack of the keys for company. There are solo evening walks when, if you’re lucky, a new hypothesis jumps suddenly to mind. But make no mistake – science doesn’t happen in a vacuum. All scientists need communities of fellow thinkers and experimentalists. Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of taking part in just such a community, when… Read more
July 31, 2018
A Theory of Why Academics and Educated People Are (Getting More and More) Liberal
July 31, 2018 By Connor Wood
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A curious thing has happened over the past few decades in American higher education. The humanities and social sciences – disciplines such as history, cultural anthropology, and sociology – have gone from having a slight liberal tilt to being almost uniformly left-of-center, with the vast majority of professors and researchers in those fields self-identifying as very liberal or even radical. This ideological uniformity has strained relations between the academic world and conservatives, and some thinkers – such as the members… Read more
June 28, 2018
Does Marching to the Same Rhythm Always Unite Us? Our New Study Says No
June 28, 2018 By Connor Wood
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We humans love rhythm. Music, dancing, clapping, singing – no matter what form it comes in, rhythmic unity is a staple of our social lives. Recently, psychologists and cognitive scientists have found that “synchrony” – as researchers call it – seems to be associated with prosocial behaviors and attitudes. If a group of people dance or even clap their hands in rhythm together, they’ll probably be more cooperative and nice to each other afterwards. Scientists who study religion think that… Read more
June 20, 2018
A Cognitive (and Social) View of Ritual
June 20, 2018 By Connor Wood
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Imagine two scenes. In the first, a person chucks a book casually on a table, leaving it open to the page she was reading, before walking into another room. In the second, she raises the book conspicuously over her head. Then, still holding it high in both hands, she slowly turns around, walks in a measured gait toward a large table, and places the book carefully on a reading stand. What’s the difference between these two scenes? Well, the first… Read more
June 12, 2018
Suicide, Modern Life, and Being In Control
June 12, 2018 By Connor Wood
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I want to talk about suicide. It’s topical. In the past week and a half, two big-time celebrities – the fashion designer Kate Spade and the globetrotting chef Anthony Bourdain – took their own lives, sending shock waves through popular culture. But these deaths were only part of a much larger trend: the suicide rate in the United States has increased by 25% since 1999. It’s now the tenth-leading cause of death in the country (and among teenagers, it’s second… Read more
May 25, 2018
Cognitive Style, Religious Beliefs, and Individualism
May 25, 2018 By Connor Wood
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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. Read more
May 17, 2018
Why Do Societies Differ Psychologically?
May 17, 2018 By Connor Wood
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A team of psychologists think that behavioral ecology can help us understand why Westerners think analytically and residents of East Asia think more holistically: like other animals, we adjust our behavior to match our surroundings. Read more
April 18, 2018
Why Is Shamanism So Common?
April 18, 2018 By Connor Wood
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A few years back, I wrote a post here called “Spirit Possession: Everyone’s Doing It.” (I was working at the time on a couple of encyclopedia articles on spirit possession cults.*) Spirit possession and shamanism are seriously interesting topics of study, because they shed a lot of light on general questions about the nature and origin of religion. Recently, a PhD student at Harvard, Manvir Singh, published a target article in Behavioral and Brain Sciences on the evolution of shamanism,… Read more
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