Belief, Ritual, and the Evolution of Religion

@inproceedings{Rossano2016BeliefRA,
  title={Belief, Ritual, and the Evolution of Religion},
  author={Matt J. Rossano and B Vandewalle},
  year={2016}
}
and 

Religion: costs, signals, and the Neolithic transition

ABSTRACT This paper extends the picture developed in Religion Re-Explained (Sterelny, 2018) to groups in transition from egalitarian to inegalitarian social environments, “big men” societies and

The role of ritual behaviour in anxiety reduction: an investigation of Marathi religious practices in Mauritius

Investigation of the anxiolytic effects of religious practices among the Marathi Hindu community in Mauritius finds that participants in the ritual condition reported lower perceived anxiety after the ritual treatment and displayed lower physiological anxiety, which was assessed as heart-rate variability.

Using the Five Pathways to Nature to Make a Spiritual Connection in Early Recovery from SUD: a Pilot Study

Spirituality is a broad concept and open to different perspectives. It is associated with a sense of connection to something larger than oneself and a search for life’s meaning. Many people find this

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 160 REFERENCES

Mortal rituals : what the story of the Andes survivors tells us about human evolution

PrefaceIntroduction1. Natural Versus Civilized2. The Evolution of Taboo3. This Cold and Capricious Place4. Mountain Rituals5. Rituals of Love6. Ritual Defeats the Mountain7. God of the

Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion

Shamans, Sorcerers, and Saints:. Prehistory of Religion By Brian Hayden. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2003. 258 pp. $60.00 (hardback). ISBN 1-58834-168-2

Wondrous Healing: Shamanism, Human Evolution, and the Origin of Religion

This text explains why beliefs in supernatural forces - ghosts, poltergeists, witches, and spirits - are based on universal experience. The author maintains that beliefs in mysterious anomalies such

Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion

Religion is one of the most universal and most studied human phenomena, yet there exists no widely shared definition for it. This ambitious study provides and defends such a definition.

The evolution of culture : an interdisciplinary view

This book explores the ways in which contemporary evolutionary thinking might inform the study of the peculiarly human phenomenon of symbolic culture, including language, ritual, religion, religion

Supernaturalizing Social Life

This paper examines three ancient traits of religion whose origins likely date back to the Upper Paleolithic: ancestor worship, shamanism, and the belief in natural and animal spirits, arguing that these traits played a role in the evolution of human cooperation through the mechanism of social scrutiny.

The essential role of ritual in the transmission and reinforcement of social norms.

  • M. Rossano
  • Psychology, Sociology
    Psychological bulletin
  • 2012
Evidence demonstrating that ritual and ritualized behaviors are essential to the transmission and reinforcement of social norms is summarized.

Chapter 11. Metarepresentation, Homo religiosus , and Homo symbolicus

If the ability to form mental representations about mental representations (metarepresentation) is a key factor enabling and encouraging religious expression, then the same cognitive equipment that underwrites symbolism also gave rise to religion, and the two could have evolved concurrently.

Religion and the Evolution of Human Cooperation

This paper examines three ancient traits of religion whose origins likely 12 date back to the Upper Paleolithic: ancestor worship, shamanism, and the belief in 13 natural and animal spirits. Evidence

Ritual Behaviour and the Origins of Modern Cognition

  • M. Rossano
  • Psychology
    Cambridge Archaeological Journal
  • 2009
This article argues that ritual behaviour was a critical selective force in the emergence of modern cognition. The argument is based on the following observations: (1) Upper Palaeolithic Cro-Magnons
...