D Jason Slone
Biographic Data
| ID | 6553048 |
|---|---|
| NAME | D Jason Slone |
| GIVEN NAMES | D Jason |
| FAMILY NAME | Slone |
| SIGNATURE | SLONE D J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Georgia Southern University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 20 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
How are Religious Systems Ultimately Adaptive
In their new book, Religion Evolving: Cultural, Cognitive, and Ecological Dynamics, B. G. Purzycki and R. Sosis (2022) argue that religions should be viewed as adaptive systems not just by-products of cognitive capacities that evolved for other purposes. In this essay, I argue that they are correct that the types of religious systems that are widespread across cultures and eras (i.e., “world religions”) have been selected for because they help in…
Imagining the Cognitive Science of Religion
Claire White, An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion
Claire White, An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion: Connecting Evolution, Brain, Cognition, and Culture (New York: Routledge, 1st ed, 2021), 368 pp., $42.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9781138541467
Key Ingredients for a World Religion
Imagine you want to start a religion, and you want it to spread widely throughout the world and last for many generations. What would your religion need to be like to have a good chance of success? Is there a recipe of some kind that you could follow? This chapter argues based on insights from cognitive and evolutionary science that contemporary world religions tend to follow the same basic recipe. As with all successful recipes—those that get sh…
Naturalism and Protectionism in the Study of Religions
How should we study religion? Must we be religious ourselves to truly understand it? Do we study religion to advance our knowledge, or should the study of religions help to reintroduce the sacred into our increasingly secularized world?
Religion and Cognition
Part I 1. Social Siences E.O. Wilson 2. Epidemiology of Beliefs: A Naturalistic Approach. D. Sperber 3. Toward a Topography of Mind: An Introduction to Domain Specificity L. Hirschfeld & S. Gelman. 4. Interpretation and Explanation: Problems and Promise in the Study of Religion. E.T. Lawson & R.N. McCauley. 5. Exploring the Natural Foundations of Religion. J. Barrett Part II 6. Anthropomorphism and God Concepts: Conceptualizing a Non-Natural Enti…
The Effect of Integration on Recall of Counterintuitive Stories
Research on the cognitive foundations of cultural transmission has recently demonstrated that concepts which minimally violate one domain-specific ontological category expectation, or "minimally counterintuitive" concepts (MCI), are better recalled, all else being equal, than "intuitive" concepts (INT), which do not violate domain-specific ontological expectations. In addition, memory for MCI concepts is better than memory for "maximally counteri…
Imagery Effects on Recall of Minimally Counterintuitive Concepts
Much experimental evidence shows that minimally counterintuitive concepts, which violate one intuitive ontological expectation of domain-specific natural kinds, are remembered as well as or better than intuitive concepts with no violations of ontological expectations, and much better than maximally counterintuitive concepts with more than one violation of ontological violations (Barrett and Nyhoff, 2001; Boyer and Ramble, 2001; Atran and Norenzay…
Role of Context in the Recall of Counterintuitive Concepts
Counterintuitive concepts have been identified as major aspects of religious belief, and have been used to explain the retention and transmission of such beliefs. To resolve some inconsistencies in the literature concerning counterintuitiveness, we conducted three experiments to study the effect of context on recall. Five types of items were used: intuitive, minimally counterintuitive, maximally counterintuitive, minimally counterintuitive with c…
The Creative Structuring of Counterintuitive Worlds
Recent research has shown a memory advantage for minimally counterintuitive (MCI) concepts, over concepts that are either intuitive (INT) or maximally counterintuitive (MXCI), although the general result is heavily affected by context. Items from one such study were given to subjects who were asked to create novel stories using at least three concepts from a list containing all three types. Results indicated a preference for using MCI items (as i…
Theological Incorrectness
This book analyzes the concept of theological incorrectness, namely, why people believe what they shouldn’t? It takes off from Justin Barrett’s notion of “theological correctness”, which contends that while religious believers produce theologically correct ideas in situations that allow them the time and space to reflect symmetrically on their beliefs, the same people can stray from those ideological beliefs in situations that require them to sol…
On the Epistemological Magic of Ethnographic Analysis
Analyses of religious behavior by cultural (i.e., hermeneutic) scholars of religion are impoverished because the intuitive interpretive method employed in fieldwork analysis fails to fill an explanatory gap in religious studies because of (1) the reliance upon informant (ethnographic) data that itself requires explanation, and because of (2) the rejection of relevant scientific explanatory models required to explain that data. We argue that field…
Role of Context in the Recall of Counterintuitive Concepts
Counterintuitive concepts have been identified as major aspects of religious belief, and have been used to explain the retention and transmission of such beliefs. To resolve some inconsistencies in the literature concerning counterintuitiveness, we conducted three experiments to study the effect of context on recall. Five types of items were used: intuitive, minimally counterintuitive, maximally counterintuitive, minimally counterintuitive with c…
The Creative Structuring of Counterintuitive Worlds
Recent research has shown a memory advantage for minimally counterintuitive (MCI) concepts, over concepts that are either intuitive (INT) or maximally counterintuitive (MXCI), although the general result is heavily affected by context. Items from one such study were given to subjects who were asked to create novel stories using at least three concepts from a list containing all three types. Results indicated a preference for using MCI items (as i…
The Effect of Integration on Recall of Counterintuitive Stories
Research on the cognitive foundations of cultural transmission has recently demonstrated that concepts which minimally violate one domain-specific ontological category expectation, or "minimally counterintuitive" concepts (MCI), are better recalled, all else being equal, than "intuitive" concepts (INT), which do not violate domain-specific ontological expectations. In addition, memory for MCI concepts is better than memory for "maximally counteri…
Imagery Effects on Recall of Minimally Counterintuitive Concepts
Much experimental evidence shows that minimally counterintuitive concepts, which violate one intuitive ontological expectation of domain-specific natural kinds, are remembered as well as or better than intuitive concepts with no violations of ontological expectations, and much better than maximally counterintuitive concepts with more than one violation of ontological violations (Barrett and Nyhoff, 2001; Boyer and Ramble, 2001; Atran and Norenzay…
Theological Incorrectness
This book analyzes the concept of theological incorrectness, namely, why people believe what they shouldn’t? It takes off from Justin Barrett’s notion of “theological correctness”, which contends that while religious believers produce theologically correct ideas in situations that allow them the time and space to reflect symmetrically on their beliefs, the same people can stray from those ideological beliefs in situations that require them to sol…
On the Epistemological Magic of Ethnographic Analysis
Analyses of religious behavior by cultural (i.e., hermeneutic) scholars of religion are impoverished because the intuitive interpretive method employed in fieldwork analysis fails to fill an explanatory gap in religious studies because of (1) the reliance upon informant (ethnographic) data that itself requires explanation, and because of (2) the rejection of relevant scientific explanatory models required to explain that data. We argue that field…
Role of Context in the Recall of Counterintuitive Concepts
Counterintuitive concepts have been identified as major aspects of religious belief, and have been used to explain the retention and transmission of such beliefs. To resolve some inconsistencies in the literature concerning counterintuitiveness, we conducted three experiments to study the effect of context on recall. Five types of items were used: intuitive, minimally counterintuitive, maximally counterintuitive, minimally counterintuitive with c…
The Creative Structuring of Counterintuitive Worlds
Recent research has shown a memory advantage for minimally counterintuitive (MCI) concepts, over concepts that are either intuitive (INT) or maximally counterintuitive (MXCI), although the general result is heavily affected by context. Items from one such study were given to subjects who were asked to create novel stories using at least three concepts from a list containing all three types. Results indicated a preference for using MCI items (as i…
Imagery Effects on Recall of Minimally Counterintuitive Concepts
Much experimental evidence shows that minimally counterintuitive concepts, which violate one intuitive ontological expectation of domain-specific natural kinds, are remembered as well as or better than intuitive concepts with no violations of ontological expectations, and much better than maximally counterintuitive concepts with more than one violation of ontological violations (Barrett and Nyhoff, 2001; Boyer and Ramble, 2001; Atran and Norenzay…
The Effect of Integration on Recall of Counterintuitive Stories
Research on the cognitive foundations of cultural transmission has recently demonstrated that concepts which minimally violate one domain-specific ontological category expectation, or "minimally counterintuitive" concepts (MCI), are better recalled, all else being equal, than "intuitive" concepts (INT), which do not violate domain-specific ontological expectations. In addition, memory for MCI concepts is better than memory for "maximally counteri…
Religion and Cognition
Part I 1. Social Siences E.O. Wilson 2. Epidemiology of Beliefs: A Naturalistic Approach. D. Sperber 3. Toward a Topography of Mind: An Introduction to Domain Specificity L. Hirschfeld & S. Gelman. 4. Interpretation and Explanation: Problems and Promise in the Study of Religion. E.T. Lawson & R.N. McCauley. 5. Exploring the Natural Foundations of Religion. J. Barrett Part II 6. Anthropomorphism and God Concepts: Conceptualizing a Non-Natural Enti…
Naturalism and Protectionism in the Study of Religions
How should we study religion? Must we be religious ourselves to truly understand it? Do we study religion to advance our knowledge, or should the study of religions help to reintroduce the sacred into our increasingly secularized world?
Key Ingredients for a World Religion
Imagine you want to start a religion, and you want it to spread widely throughout the world and last for many generations. What would your religion need to be like to have a good chance of success? Is there a recipe of some kind that you could follow? This chapter argues based on insights from cognitive and evolutionary science that contemporary world religions tend to follow the same basic recipe. As with all successful recipes—those that get sh…
Claire White, An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion
Claire White, An Introduction to the Cognitive Science of Religion: Connecting Evolution, Brain, Cognition, and Culture (New York: Routledge, 1st ed, 2021), 368 pp., $42.95 (pbk), ISBN: 9781138541467
How are Religious Systems Ultimately Adaptive
In their new book, Religion Evolving: Cultural, Cognitive, and Ecological Dynamics, B. G. Purzycki and R. Sosis (2022) argue that religions should be viewed as adaptive systems not just by-products of cognitive capacities that evolved for other purposes. In this essay, I argue that they are correct that the types of religious systems that are widespread across cultures and eras (i.e., “world religions”) have been selected for because they help in…
Imagining the Cognitive Science of Religion
Psychology (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology (8 works) · Cognition (6 works) · Religion and Society Interactions (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Study and Philosophy of Religion (5 works)