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The Naturalness of Religious Ideas: A Cognitive Theory of Religion
Abstract
Why do people have religious ideas? And why thosereligious ideas? The main theme of Pascal Boyer's work is that important aspects of religious representations are constrained by universal properties of the human mind-brain. Experimental results from developmental psychology, he says, can explain why certain religious representations are more likely to be acquired, stored, and transmitted by human minds. Considering these universal constraints, Boyer proposes an exciting new answer to the question of why similar religious representations are found in so many different cultures. His work will be widely discussed by cultural anthropologists, psychologists, and students of religion, history, and philosophy.
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“Moreover, as Boyer (1994) argues, counterintuitivity is an attribute of successful religious beliefs because it makes them striking and memorable.”
From Sleep, Dreaming, and the Imagination: Psychosocial Adaptations to an Ever-Changing World (2013) · cites this paper as Boyer (1994)
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Nisbett, R. E., Peng, K., Choi, I., & Norenzayan, A. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.2.291 · Cited by 4,263
The evolution of cultural evolution
Henrich, J., & Mcelreath, R. (2003) · Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews · doi:10.1002/evan.10110 · Cited by 1,024
Religiosity and ethical behavior in organizations: a symbolic interactionist perspective
Weaver, G. R., & Agle, B. R. (2002) · The Academy of Management Review · doi:10.2307/4134370 · Cited by 954
The cultural evolution of prosocial religions
Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A. F., Gervais, W. M., Willard, A. K., McNamara, R. A., Slingerland, E., & Henrich, J. (2016) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x14001356 · Cited by 934
Understanding Early Civilizations
Trigger, B. G. (2003) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511840630 · Cited by 679
Metadata
- Authors
- Boyer, P.
- Corresponding author
- Boyer, Pascal
- ORCID
- Boyer, Pascal
- Venue
- University of California Press eBooks
- Publisher
- University of California Press
- Published
- 1994-12-31
- OpenAlex
- W4243162844
- Cited by
- 780
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 21 · 2014: 28 · 2013: 31 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 23.58
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- University of California Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Evolution and Science Education
- Keywords
- Pascal Boyer, naturalism, religious representation, religious cognition
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