New Advances in Cognitive Science of Religion
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24145299 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hans Van Eyghen (0000-0002-2971-554X, Tilburg University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Publication date | 2026-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religion Compass (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1749-8171 • E-ISSN: 1749-8171 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/rec3.70071 |
| OpenAlex | W7212354292 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 67 |
The paper highlights a number of new developments in Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR): It discusses how recent approaches are more mindful of the influence of culture on religious cognition, put more focus on the social role of ritual behavior, and offer explanations for atheism. There is consideration of how new approaches draw insights from other disciplines, especially cognitive neuroscience and computer modeling. Finally, the paper discusses criticisms of some theories and core assumptions.
Cognition · Cognitive science of religion · Core (optical fiber) · Focus (optics) · Social cognition · Social neuroscience · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Language and cultural evolution · Study and Philosophy of Religion
The origins of religious disbelief
Analytic Thinking Promotes Religious Disbelief
Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment and the expansion of human sociality
The free-energy principle
Reflections on the Cognitive Science of Religion
Advancing the Cognitive Science of Religion through Replication and Open Science
Go Wild, Not Weird
Cognitive Biases and Religious Belief
Is history important for a historical argument in religious studies
Revising Cognitive and Evolutionary Science of Religion
Trait absorption relates to experiences of spirit communication
Signaling, solidarity, and the sacred
"O Lord… You Perceive my Thoughts from Afar"
Understanding atheism/non-belief as an expected individual-differences variable
The sense of presence
Big Gods
Predictive coding in agency detection
On breaking the cognitive science of religion and putting it back together again
Prediction and feedback may constrain but do not stop anthropomorphism
The boundary conditions of the hypersensitive agency detection device
Modelling terror management theory
Hyper-cooperation is deep in our evolutionary history and individual perception of belief matters
Are Big Gods a big deal in the emergence of big groups
The cognitive science of religion
Supernatural, social, and self-monitoring in the scaling-up of Chinese civilization
The cultural buck stops somewhere
Do minds switch bodies? Dualist interpretations across ages and societies
The problems and origins of belief in Big Gods
Seeking the supernatural
Priming of supernatural agent concepts and agency detection
Big Gods can get in your head
Testing the Big Gods hypothesis with global historical data
Forecasting Changes in Religiosity and Existential Security with an Agent-Based Model
Stability of Groups with Costly Beliefs and Practices
Religion, the social brain and the mystical stance
The Adaptationist-Byproduct Debate on the Evolution of Religion
Supernatural Agency
Are gods really moral monitors? Some comments on Ara Norenzayan's Big Gods by a historian of religions
Be careful, or you'll act corruptly and make a carved image for yourselves, in the form of a figure, the likeness male or female’ (Deut. 4
Big Gods in review
Religion as an Evolutionary Byproduct
Reidian Religious Epistemology and the Cognitive Science of Religion
Gods are watching and so what? Moralistic supernatural punishment across 15 cultures
Cognitive resource depletion in religious interactions
Big Gods and other watcher mechanisms in the formation of large groups
God is great - but not necessary? On Ara Norenzayan,Big Gods(2013)
Milestone or millstone? Does Norenzayan's book live up to the hype
Do Big Gods cause anything
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |