The cognitive and evolutionary psychology of religion Page 1 Biology and Philosophy 19:
655–686, 2004. © 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Area review …

One of the key issues in conceptual development research concerns what kinds of causal
devices young children use to understand the biological world. We review evidence that …

Discovery learning approaches to education have recently come under scrutiny (Tobias &
Duffy, 2009), with many studies indicating limitations to discovery learning practices …

Teleological explanations account for objects and events by reference to a functional
consequence or purpose. Although they are popular in religion, they are unpopular in …

Separate bodies of research suggest that young children have a broad tendency to reason
about natural phenomena in terms of purpose and an orientation toward intention-based …

Research has found that children possess a broad bias in favor of teleological–or purpose-
based–explanations of natural phenomena. The current two experiments explored whether …

As wide-ranging as it is deep, and as entertaining as it is informative, the latest offering from
UCSanta Barbara neuroscientist Gazzaniga (" The Ethical Brain") will please a diverse array …

Teleological explanations (TEs) account for the existence or properties of an entity in terms
of a function: we have hearts because they pump blood, and telephones for communication …

Cognitive science of religion (CSR) brings theories from the cognitive sciences to bear on
why religious thought and action is so common in humans and why religious phenomena …

People often believe that significant life events happen for a reason. In three studies, we
examined evidence for the view that teleological beliefs reflect a general cognitive bias to …