Traditionally, ritual has been studied from broad sociocultural perspectives, with little
consideration of the psychological processes at play. Recently, however, psychologists have …

Imitation and innovation work in tandem to support cultural learning in children and facilitate
our capacity for cumulative culture. Here we propose an integrated theoretical account of …

A radical exploration of how rituals have influenced history over thousands of years. From
infancy, we copy those around us in order to be like others, to be one with the tribe. Other …

We develop a cultural evolutionary theory of the origins of prosocial religions and apply it to
resolve two puzzles in human psychology and cultural history:(1) the rise of large-scale …

After seeing an action sequence children and adults tend to copy causally relevant and,
more strikingly, even perceivably unnecessary actions in relation to the given goal. This …

Behavioral scientists routinely publish broad claims about human psychology and behavior
in the world's top journals based on samples drawn entirely from Western, Educated …

Where did we come from? What is our connection with other life forms? What are the
mechanisms of mind that define what it means to be a human being? Evolutionary …

In recent decades, a new scientific approach to understand, explain, and predict many
features of religion has emerged. The cognitive science of religion (CSR) has amassed …

Convergent developments across social scientific disciplines provide evidence that ritual is
a psychologically prepared, culturally inherited, behavioral trademark of our species. We …

Shamans, including medicine men, mediums, and the prophets of religious movements,
recur across human societies. Shamanism also existed among nearly all documented …