Kristoffer L Nielbo
Biographic Data
| ID | 784675 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Kristoffer L Nielbo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Kristoffer L |
| FAMILY NAME | Nielbo |
| SIGNATURE | NIELBO K L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Aarhus University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5116-5070 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 48 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Silencing in data science practices
This article examines the relationship between data science practices and epistemic injustice, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of silencing . Our practice-oriented analysis of the data science pipeline – data collection, cleaning, model training and implementation – reveals a vicious cycle of silencing that perpetuates and amplifies existing biases. We demonstrate how initial biases in data collection can lead to the development of mode…
The memeification of China’s Twitter diplomacy, 2019–2022: Adding memes to the toolkit of China’s wolf warrior diplomats
This study examines the use of memes as part of China’s digital diplomacy between 2019 and 2022. Few studies have examined how memes are used to advance state interests in relation to China’s public diplomacy. In this context, the main objective of this study is to provide a preliminary but comprehensive analysis of the content, objectives and novel practice of using memes to communicate China’s foreign policy goals on Twitter. To achieve this, w…
The Initial Digitalization of Chinese Diplomacy (2019–2021): Establishing Global Communication Networks on Twitter
The way in which Chinese diplomats communicate has changed recently, from being mostly reactive and pragmatic to being rhetorically more combative. This has generated strong academic, media, and policy interest. However, less academic attention has been devoted to the employment of social media for China’s new diplomatic communication strategy. By analyzing the recent employment of Twitter by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), this articl…
Methodology in the Cognitive Science of Religion
.
Supernatural agents and prosociality in historical China: Micro-modeling the cultural evolution of gods and morality in textual corpora
A major source of attention paid to high gods in the fields of cultural evolution and cognitive science is the social effects of belief in high gods. Belief in high gods is both hypothesized to catalyze a cognitive punishment-avoidance mechanism at the level of individual minds, and a group cultural evolutionary mechanism that amplifies in-group cooperation. Recent research into non-Western contexts not only indicates a multiplicity of supernatur…
‘Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour’ and Other Online Influence Operations in Social Media Spaces
Recently, major social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have announced efforts to counter "coordinated inauthentic behaviour." However, scholarly research continues to provide evidence that coordinated human and automated accounts covertly seek to undermine and manipulate public debates on these platforms. Given the difficulties in obtaining data from these platforms to study these influence operations, and the significant challenge o…
Cognitive Science of Religion: Wherefrom, Whereto
Please join us in celebrating the first five volumes of the Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion (JCSR) with this special issue on cognitive approaches to religion and imagination, edited by Valerie van Mulukom
Sermons as data: Introducing a corpus of 11,955 Danish sermons
In this article, we present a newly established corpus of 11,955 sermon manuscripts written by pastors in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark (ELCD) in 2011-2016. We argue that this corpus provides a resource for studying how pastors within the same religious institution attend to general themes in church and society, respond to contemporary events, and represent social worlds. The aim of the article is twofold. 1) To present and discuss o…
Dynamic evolution of sentiments in Never Let Me Go: Insights from multifractal theory and its implications for literary analysis
The moods, feelings, and attitudes represented in a novel will resonate in the reader by activating similar sentiments. It is generally accepted that sentiment analysis can capture aspects of such moods, feelings, and attitudes and can be used to summarize a novel’s plot in a story arc. With the availability of a number of algorithms to automatically extract sentiment-based story arcs, new approaches for their utilization becomes pertinent. We pr…
Modeling the Contested Relationship betweenAnalects, Mencius, andXunzi: Preliminary Evidence from a Machine-Learning Approach
This article presents preliminary findings from a multi-year, multi-disciplinary text analysis project using an ancient and medieval Chinese corpus of over five million characters in works that date from the earliest received texts to the Song dynasty. It describes "distant reading" methods in the humanities and the authors' corpus; introduces topic-modeling procedures; answers questions about the authors' data; discusses complementary relationsh…
Segmentation and cultural modulation in perception of internal events are not trivial matters
The application of perceptual and cognitive theories to religious phenomena has resulted in many interesting and productive models. Taves and Asprem propose to apply event segmentation theory (EST)
Old problems die hard
Taves and Asprem’s methodological agenda is a creative contribution to the study of religion. They claim that insights from event segmentation theory (EST) and predictive coding (PC) enable scholar
Attentional resource allocation and cultural modulation in a computational model of ritualized behavior
How do cultural and religious rituals influence human perception and cognition, and what separates the highly patterned behaviors of communal ceremonies from perceptually similar precautionary and compulsive behaviors? These are some of the questions that recent theoretical models and empirical studies have tried to answer by focusing on ritualized behavior instead of ritual. Ritualized behavior (i.e., a set of behavioral features embedded in rit…
Does Goal-Demotion Enhance Cooperation
Social scientists have long assumed that religion – and more specifically religious rituals – promotes cooperation. It has also been claimed that ritual plays an essential role in enhancing prosociality and cooperation. In this study, using a controlled laboratory experiment, we investigate if a conspicuous and recurrent feature of collective ritualized behaviour, goal-demotion, promotes lasting cooperation. We report that goal-directed collectiv…
Mystical Experience in the Lab
We review previous attempts to study mystical experience and point to problems inherent to certain methodologies. Focusing on studies that use controlled environments we advocate taking an experimental approach to mysticism. To demonstrate the viability of this approach, we report findings from a new study that probes the potential for eliciting mystical experiences in the laboratory. We find that our experimental paradigm is indeed enough to eli…
The resource model and the principle of predictive coding: A framework for analyzing proximate effects of ritual
Prediction Error During Functional and Non-Functional Action Sequences: A Computational Exploration of Ritual and Ritualized Event Processing
By means of the computational approach the present study investigates the difference between observation of functional behavior (i.e. actions involving necessary integration of subparts) and non-functional behavior (i.e. actions lacking necessary integration of subparts) in terms of prediction error. Non-functionality in this proximal sense is a feature of many socio-cultural practices, such as those found in religious rituals private and social,…
Cognitive resource depletion in religious interactions
We explore the cognitive effects of three common features of religious interactions: (1) demand for the expressive suppression of emotion; (2) exposure to goal-demoted and causally opaque actions; and (3) the presence of a charismatic authority. Using a cognitive resource model of executive function, we argue that these three features affect the executive system in ways that limit the capacity for individual processing of religious events. We fra…
Computing Religion: A New Tool in the Multilevel Analysis of Religion
The computational approach has become an invaluable tool in many fields that are directly relevant to research in religious phenomena. Yet the use of computational tools is almost absent in the study of religion. Given that religion is a cluster of interrelated phenomena and that research concerning these phenomena should strive for multilevel analysis, this article argues that the computational approach offers new methodological and theoretical …
Spontaneous processing of functional and non-functional action sequences
Characterizing ritual and ritualized behaviors has been a core issue in anthropology and the study of religion for more than a century. Although varying in emphasis, most theories point toward several specific behavioral features that distinguish ritual from instrumental behavior. Specifically, we have chosen to focus on the derivedness from instrumental behavior, intentional underspecification and goal-demotion. In contrast to instrumental or fu…
Tid, betydning og ritualdynamik
Udgangspunktet for denne artikel er brugen af ’fjerne faktorer’ i evolutionære tilgange til religion og ritualer, særligt gen-selektionismen. Artiklen argumenterer for, at evolutionsteori peger på nye muligheder for generalisering inden for religions- og ritualstudier, men at ’nære faktorer’ såsom betydning og oplevelse er vigtige for undersøgelsen af, hvordan kommunikativ og ritualiseret adfærd fungerer gennem tid. Til sidst bruges et etologisk …
Cognitive resource depletion in religious interactions
We explore the cognitive effects of three common features of religious interactions: (1) demand for the expressive suppression of emotion; (2) exposure to goal-demoted and causally opaque actions; and (3) the presence of a charismatic authority. Using a cognitive resource model of executive function, we argue that these three features affect the executive system in ways that limit the capacity for individual processing of religious events. We fra…
The Initial Digitalization of Chinese Diplomacy (2019–2021): Establishing Global Communication Networks on Twitter
The way in which Chinese diplomats communicate has changed recently, from being mostly reactive and pragmatic to being rhetorically more combative. This has generated strong academic, media, and policy interest. However, less academic attention has been devoted to the employment of social media for China’s new diplomatic communication strategy. By analyzing the recent employment of Twitter by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), this articl…
Mystical Experience in the Lab
We review previous attempts to study mystical experience and point to problems inherent to certain methodologies. Focusing on studies that use controlled environments we advocate taking an experimental approach to mysticism. To demonstrate the viability of this approach, we report findings from a new study that probes the potential for eliciting mystical experiences in the laboratory. We find that our experimental paradigm is indeed enough to eli…
Computing Religion: A New Tool in the Multilevel Analysis of Religion
The computational approach has become an invaluable tool in many fields that are directly relevant to research in religious phenomena. Yet the use of computational tools is almost absent in the study of religion. Given that religion is a cluster of interrelated phenomena and that research concerning these phenomena should strive for multilevel analysis, this article argues that the computational approach offers new methodological and theoretical …
Prediction Error During Functional and Non-Functional Action Sequences: A Computational Exploration of Ritual and Ritualized Event Processing
By means of the computational approach the present study investigates the difference between observation of functional behavior (i.e. actions involving necessary integration of subparts) and non-functional behavior (i.e. actions lacking necessary integration of subparts) in terms of prediction error. Non-functionality in this proximal sense is a feature of many socio-cultural practices, such as those found in religious rituals private and social,…
Modeling the Contested Relationship betweenAnalects, Mencius, andXunzi: Preliminary Evidence from a Machine-Learning Approach
This article presents preliminary findings from a multi-year, multi-disciplinary text analysis project using an ancient and medieval Chinese corpus of over five million characters in works that date from the earliest received texts to the Song dynasty. It describes "distant reading" methods in the humanities and the authors' corpus; introduces topic-modeling procedures; answers questions about the authors' data; discusses complementary relationsh…
Does Goal-Demotion Enhance Cooperation
Social scientists have long assumed that religion – and more specifically religious rituals – promotes cooperation. It has also been claimed that ritual plays an essential role in enhancing prosociality and cooperation. In this study, using a controlled laboratory experiment, we investigate if a conspicuous and recurrent feature of collective ritualized behaviour, goal-demotion, promotes lasting cooperation. We report that goal-directed collectiv…
Spontaneous processing of functional and non-functional action sequences
Characterizing ritual and ritualized behaviors has been a core issue in anthropology and the study of religion for more than a century. Although varying in emphasis, most theories point toward several specific behavioral features that distinguish ritual from instrumental behavior. Specifically, we have chosen to focus on the derivedness from instrumental behavior, intentional underspecification and goal-demotion. In contrast to instrumental or fu…
Tid, betydning og ritualdynamik
Udgangspunktet for denne artikel er brugen af ’fjerne faktorer’ i evolutionære tilgange til religion og ritualer, særligt gen-selektionismen. Artiklen argumenterer for, at evolutionsteori peger på nye muligheder for generalisering inden for religions- og ritualstudier, men at ’nære faktorer’ såsom betydning og oplevelse er vigtige for undersøgelsen af, hvordan kommunikativ og ritualiseret adfærd fungerer gennem tid. Til sidst bruges et etologisk …
Computing Religion: A New Tool in the Multilevel Analysis of Religion
The computational approach has become an invaluable tool in many fields that are directly relevant to research in religious phenomena. Yet the use of computational tools is almost absent in the study of religion. Given that religion is a cluster of interrelated phenomena and that research concerning these phenomena should strive for multilevel analysis, this article argues that the computational approach offers new methodological and theoretical …
The resource model and the principle of predictive coding: A framework for analyzing proximate effects of ritual
Prediction Error During Functional and Non-Functional Action Sequences: A Computational Exploration of Ritual and Ritualized Event Processing
By means of the computational approach the present study investigates the difference between observation of functional behavior (i.e. actions involving necessary integration of subparts) and non-functional behavior (i.e. actions lacking necessary integration of subparts) in terms of prediction error. Non-functionality in this proximal sense is a feature of many socio-cultural practices, such as those found in religious rituals private and social,…
Cognitive resource depletion in religious interactions
We explore the cognitive effects of three common features of religious interactions: (1) demand for the expressive suppression of emotion; (2) exposure to goal-demoted and causally opaque actions; and (3) the presence of a charismatic authority. Using a cognitive resource model of executive function, we argue that these three features affect the executive system in ways that limit the capacity for individual processing of religious events. We fra…
Does Goal-Demotion Enhance Cooperation
Social scientists have long assumed that religion – and more specifically religious rituals – promotes cooperation. It has also been claimed that ritual plays an essential role in enhancing prosociality and cooperation. In this study, using a controlled laboratory experiment, we investigate if a conspicuous and recurrent feature of collective ritualized behaviour, goal-demotion, promotes lasting cooperation. We report that goal-directed collectiv…
Mystical Experience in the Lab
We review previous attempts to study mystical experience and point to problems inherent to certain methodologies. Focusing on studies that use controlled environments we advocate taking an experimental approach to mysticism. To demonstrate the viability of this approach, we report findings from a new study that probes the potential for eliciting mystical experiences in the laboratory. We find that our experimental paradigm is indeed enough to eli…
Attentional resource allocation and cultural modulation in a computational model of ritualized behavior
How do cultural and religious rituals influence human perception and cognition, and what separates the highly patterned behaviors of communal ceremonies from perceptually similar precautionary and compulsive behaviors? These are some of the questions that recent theoretical models and empirical studies have tried to answer by focusing on ritualized behavior instead of ritual. Ritualized behavior (i.e., a set of behavioral features embedded in rit…
Segmentation and cultural modulation in perception of internal events are not trivial matters
The application of perceptual and cognitive theories to religious phenomena has resulted in many interesting and productive models. Taves and Asprem propose to apply event segmentation theory (EST)
Old problems die hard
Taves and Asprem’s methodological agenda is a creative contribution to the study of religion. They claim that insights from event segmentation theory (EST) and predictive coding (PC) enable scholar
Modeling the Contested Relationship betweenAnalects, Mencius, andXunzi: Preliminary Evidence from a Machine-Learning Approach
This article presents preliminary findings from a multi-year, multi-disciplinary text analysis project using an ancient and medieval Chinese corpus of over five million characters in works that date from the earliest received texts to the Song dynasty. It describes "distant reading" methods in the humanities and the authors' corpus; introduces topic-modeling procedures; answers questions about the authors' data; discusses complementary relationsh…
‘Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour’ and Other Online Influence Operations in Social Media Spaces
Recently, major social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have announced efforts to counter "coordinated inauthentic behaviour." However, scholarly research continues to provide evidence that coordinated human and automated accounts covertly seek to undermine and manipulate public debates on these platforms. Given the difficulties in obtaining data from these platforms to study these influence operations, and the significant challenge o…
Cognitive Science of Religion: Wherefrom, Whereto
Please join us in celebrating the first five volumes of the Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion (JCSR) with this special issue on cognitive approaches to religion and imagination, edited by Valerie van Mulukom
Sermons as data: Introducing a corpus of 11,955 Danish sermons
In this article, we present a newly established corpus of 11,955 sermon manuscripts written by pastors in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark (ELCD) in 2011-2016. We argue that this corpus provides a resource for studying how pastors within the same religious institution attend to general themes in church and society, respond to contemporary events, and represent social worlds. The aim of the article is twofold. 1) To present and discuss o…
Dynamic evolution of sentiments in Never Let Me Go: Insights from multifractal theory and its implications for literary analysis
The moods, feelings, and attitudes represented in a novel will resonate in the reader by activating similar sentiments. It is generally accepted that sentiment analysis can capture aspects of such moods, feelings, and attitudes and can be used to summarize a novel’s plot in a story arc. With the availability of a number of algorithms to automatically extract sentiment-based story arcs, new approaches for their utilization becomes pertinent. We pr…
Methodology in the Cognitive Science of Religion
.
Supernatural agents and prosociality in historical China: Micro-modeling the cultural evolution of gods and morality in textual corpora
A major source of attention paid to high gods in the fields of cultural evolution and cognitive science is the social effects of belief in high gods. Belief in high gods is both hypothesized to catalyze a cognitive punishment-avoidance mechanism at the level of individual minds, and a group cultural evolutionary mechanism that amplifies in-group cooperation. Recent research into non-Western contexts not only indicates a multiplicity of supernatur…
The Initial Digitalization of Chinese Diplomacy (2019–2021): Establishing Global Communication Networks on Twitter
The way in which Chinese diplomats communicate has changed recently, from being mostly reactive and pragmatic to being rhetorically more combative. This has generated strong academic, media, and policy interest. However, less academic attention has been devoted to the employment of social media for China’s new diplomatic communication strategy. By analyzing the recent employment of Twitter by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), this articl…
Silencing in data science practices
This article examines the relationship between data science practices and epistemic injustice, with a particular focus on the phenomenon of silencing . Our practice-oriented analysis of the data science pipeline – data collection, cleaning, model training and implementation – reveals a vicious cycle of silencing that perpetuates and amplifies existing biases. We demonstrate how initial biases in data collection can lead to the development of mode…
The memeification of China’s Twitter diplomacy, 2019–2022: Adding memes to the toolkit of China’s wolf warrior diplomats
This study examines the use of memes as part of China’s digital diplomacy between 2019 and 2022. Few studies have examined how memes are used to advance state interests in relation to China’s public diplomacy. In this context, the main objective of this study is to provide a preliminary but comprehensive analysis of the content, objectives and novel practice of using memes to communicate China’s foreign policy goals on Twitter. To achieve this, w…
Computer Science (14 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation (11 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Artificial Intelligence (6 works) · Cognitive psychology (6 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (6 works) · Political science (6 works)