The Biology of Religious Behavior

The Biology of Religious Behavior PDF Author: Jay R. Feierman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313364311
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Offers a fresh and detailed take on the evolution of religious behavior from a biobehavioral perspective, promoting a new understanding that may help build bridges across the religious divide. There has been much recent interest in the study of religion from the perspective of Darwinian evolution. The Biology of Religious Behavior: The Evolutionary Origins of Faith and Religion offers a broad overview of the topic, written by internationally recognized experts. In addition to its primary focus on religious behavior, the book addresses other important aspects of religion, such as values, beliefs, and emotions as they affect behavior. The contributors approach the evolution of religion by examining the behavior of individuals in their everyday lives. After describing various religious behaviors, the contributors consider the behaviors with reference to their evolutionary history, development during the lifetime of the individual, proximate causes, and adaptive value. Happily, this foray into understanding religion from a biobehavioral perspective demonstrates that, at the biological and behavioral levels, what unites the different religions of the world is far greater than what divides them.

The Biology of Religious Behavior

The Biology of Religious Behavior PDF Author: Jay R. Feierman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313364311
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book

Book Description
Offers a fresh and detailed take on the evolution of religious behavior from a biobehavioral perspective, promoting a new understanding that may help build bridges across the religious divide. There has been much recent interest in the study of religion from the perspective of Darwinian evolution. The Biology of Religious Behavior: The Evolutionary Origins of Faith and Religion offers a broad overview of the topic, written by internationally recognized experts. In addition to its primary focus on religious behavior, the book addresses other important aspects of religion, such as values, beliefs, and emotions as they affect behavior. The contributors approach the evolution of religion by examining the behavior of individuals in their everyday lives. After describing various religious behaviors, the contributors consider the behaviors with reference to their evolutionary history, development during the lifetime of the individual, proximate causes, and adaptive value. Happily, this foray into understanding religion from a biobehavioral perspective demonstrates that, at the biological and behavioral levels, what unites the different religions of the world is far greater than what divides them.

The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief and Experience

The Psychology of Religious Behaviour, Belief and Experience PDF Author: Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317799046
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
Because society is increasingly secular, it may seem irrelevant to consider the psychology of religion. But the diversity of our multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society in fact makes religion more important to the social sciences than it has ever been before. What are the social consequences of religion? Every day the news is full of events that can be blamed on religion perpetrated by a range of groups from whole societies to individuals. Beit-Hallami and Argyle are renowned for their clear, analytical approach to topics and this new, state-of-the-art study of psychology and religion is no exception. It will be welcomed as an update to their previous work in the area by social psychologists, sociologists and theologians worldwide.

The Faith Instinct

The Faith Instinct PDF Author: Nicholas Wade
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101155671
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Noted science writer Nicholas Wade offers for the first time a convincing case based on a broad range of scientific evidence for the evolutionary basis of religion.

The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior

The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior PDF Author: Eckart Voland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Anthropology
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
In a Darwinian world, religious behavior - just like other behaviors - is likely to have undergone a process of natural selection in which it was rewarded in the evolutionary currency of reproductive success. This book aims to provide a better understanding of the social scenarios in which selection pressure led to religious practices becoming an evolved human trait, i.e. an adaptive answer to the conditions of living and surviving that prevailed among our prehistoric ancestors. This aim is pursued by a team of expert authors from a range of disciplines. Their contributions examine the relevant physiological, emotional, cognitive and social processes. The resulting understanding of the functional interplay of these processes gives valuable insights into the biological roots and benefits of religion.

Born Believers

Born Believers PDF Author: Justin L. Barrett
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439196540
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
A provocative report on the universal nature of divine beliefs; explains how the roots of religious perception begin in infancy and evolve into complex beliefs that share instinctive commonalities.

Religion, Personality, and Social Behavior

Religion, Personality, and Social Behavior PDF Author: Vassilis Saroglou
Publisher: Psychology Press
ISBN: 1136449841
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Psychological interest in religion, in terms of both theory and empirical research, has been constant since the beginning of psychology. However, since the beginning of the 21st Century, partially due to important social and political events and developments, interest in religion within personality and social psychology has increased. This volume reviews the accumulated research and theory on the major aspects of personality and social psychology as applied to religion. It provides a high quality integrative, systematic, and rigorous review of that work, with a focus on topics that are both central in personality and social psychology and have allowed for the accumulation of solid and replicated and not impressionist knowledge on religion. The contributors are renowned researchers in the field who offer an international perspective that is both illuminating, yet neutral, with respect to religion. The volume’s primary audience are academics, researchers, and advanced students in social psychology, but it will also interest those in sociology, political sciences, and anthropology.

Principles of Psychology in Religious Context

Principles of Psychology in Religious Context PDF Author: E. Rae Harcum
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0761860452
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
This book asserts that the better one understands the causes of behavior, the better one can apply that knowledge to produce a better world. It describes the mechanisms that cause human behavior, such as freedom of will, in a manner consistent with religious beliefs. It also asserts that all avenues for studying human behavior, like intuition and prayer, are acceptable and necessary. Thus, when studying the agent of human action, we must rely on faith, logic, and intuition, in addition to the full use of empirical science. Principles of Psychology for People of God begins with a description of the nervous system and continues with chapters on development, perception, internal states, learning, memory, and the ultimate selection of behaviors. Nevertheless, it steadfastly emphasizes that behavior is not produced by physical mechanisms alone, but also by a non-material spirit that can transcend some inheritances and environments.

The Neuroscience of Religious Experience

The Neuroscience of Religious Experience PDF Author: Patrick McNamara
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139483560
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Technical advances in the life and medical sciences have revolutionised our understanding of the brain, while the emerging disciplines of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience continue to reveal the connections of the higher cognitive functions and emotional states associated with religious experience to underlying brain states. At the same time, a host of developing theories in psychology and anthropology posit evolutionary explanations for the ubiquity and persistence of religious beliefs and the reports of religious experiences across human cultures, while gesturing toward physical bases for these behaviours. What is missing from this literature is a strong voice speaking to these behavioural and social scientists - as well as to the intellectually curious in the religious studies community - from the perspective of a brain scientist.

Religion and Human Behavior

Religion and Human Behavior PDF Author: William N. Schoenfeld
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780962331152
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description


The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior

The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior PDF Author: Eckart Voland
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642001289
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
In a Darwinian world, religious behavior - just like other behaviors - is likely to have undergone a process of natural selection in which it was rewarded in the evolutionary currency of reproductive success. This book aims to provide a better understanding of the social scenarios in which selection pressure led to religious practices becoming an evolved human trait, i.e. an adaptive answer to the conditions of living and surviving that prevailed among our prehistoric ancestors. This aim is pursued by a team of expert authors from a range of disciplines. Their contributions examine the relevant physiological, emotional, cognitive and social processes. The resulting understanding of the functional interplay of these processes gives valuable insights into the biological roots and benefits of religion.