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Religious Cognition in China

“Homo Religiosus” and the Dragon

Justin L Barrett editor Ryan G Hornbeck editor Madeleine Kang editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Springer International Publishing AG

Published:18th May '18

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Religious Cognition in China cover

Are human tendencies toward religious and spiritual thoughts, feelings, and actions outcomes of “natural” cognition? This volume revisits the “naturalness theory of religious cognition” through discussion of new qualitative and quantitative studies examining the psychological foundations of religious and spiritual expression in historical and contemporary China. Naturalness theory has been challenged on the grounds that little of its supporting developmental and experimental research has drawn on participants from predominantly secular cultural environments. Given China’s official secularity, its large proportion of atheists, and its alleged long history of dominant, nonreligious philosophies, can any broad claim for religion’s psychological “naturalness” be plausible? 

Addressing this empirical gap, the studies discussed in this volume support core naturalness theory predictions for human reasoning about supernatural agency, intelligent design, the efficacy of rituals, and vitalistic causality. And yet each study elucidates, expands upon, or even challenges outright the logical assumptions of the naturalness theory. Written for a non-specialist audience, this volume introduces the naturalness theory and frames the significance of these new findings for students and scholars of cultural psychology, the psychology of religion, the anthropology of religion, and Chinese Studies.

ISBN: 9783319874371

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 454g

221 pages

Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2017