宗教的认知科学解释

宗教认知科学从认知和进化的角度,对宗教信仰的机制提出新的解释.目前主要有认知副产物理论和社会适应理论.认知副产物理论认为,宗教信仰并不具有任何进化的适应性,而是人类自身认知倾向的副产物,是一种无害的噪音.社会适应理论认为,宗教信仰能促进群体的团结合作,是一个精巧的社会适应机制,有助于群体的自然选择.宗教认知科学发展了核心概念,建立了新的宗教理论,为宗教研究提供了新的思路和方法.     

宗教的起源:适应或偶然?

如果把宗教视作一种和生物进化类似的自然现象,那么它就应该有起源和发展的过程。近年来,探索这个意义上的宗教起源已经成为了进化心理学等认知科学领域的一个研究方向。一部分科学家认为,宗教可能是作为促进了人的生存和繁殖机会的一种适应,在自然选择的过程中进化了出来。另一部分科学家则认为宗教是意识进化的一个副产品。或者,宗教的起源是适应和副产品的综合产物。     

婴儿动作理解的研究回顾与展望

婴儿对他人动作意图的正确推理是一种重要的社会认知能力,有利于婴儿根据他人意图来调整自己的行为以适应更好的社会互动.婴儿的这种能力作为一种重要的社会认知根源,对自身的社会反应、心理理论以及语言理解都有重要的影响.但是婴儿是如何获得这种能力的呢?经验论认为是学习的结果,但目的论则认为是婴儿与生俱来的一种能力.两种理论都获得了一些实证支持,目前还没有一致结论.这类研究对具身认知、身心关系的探讨有一定启发作用.     

社会转型与农村青少年基督徒的宗教信仰——以甘肃W村基督教群体为例

本文借助于问卷调查与田野调查两种方法,对148名农村青少年基督徒的宗教信仰进行研究。研究发现,社会转型过程中,农村青少年基督徒的宗教信仰出现了分化,一部分青少年脱离了宗教信仰,另一部分青少年则依然保持着宗教信仰;农村青少年基督徒宗教卷入程度较低,个体私人性的宗教卷入行为相对较多,群体公共性宗教卷入行为较少;农村青少年基督徒的宗教态度趋于理性化。因此,世俗化会带来信仰的多元化。     

身心二元论的困境与具身认知研究的兴起

摘要 由笛卡尔开创的身心二元论一直制约着人们对身心关系的认识。但是近年来兴起的具身认知研究却从理论和实证的角度系统论证了二元论的不可能性,指出了心智对身体的依赖性,并据此提出了身心一体的身心关系学说。最初,有关具身认知的讨论仅仅是哲学领域有关身心关系问题的形而上学思考,随后开始成为心理学中的一种理论思维,并逐步进入实验心理学领域。如今,ERP、FMRI等认知神经科学的手段在具身认知的研究中得到了广泛使用。具身认知已成为心理学和认知科学中的一股汹涌澎湃的实证研究思潮。     

宗教信仰和宗教制度不能混为一談

一宗教信仰和宗教制度是两个不同的概念,而我国伊斯兰教界有些人却硬說:宗教信仰和宗教制度是“不能分开的”。他們說伊斯兰教的宗教制度是“适应任何时代,任何民族”,是“永远不能改变”的。这种說法,既違背历史事实,又混淆了是非,是极端錯誤的。世界上任何一种宗教都有两个部分:宗教信仰和宗教制度。对于任何一种宗教来說,它的宗教信仰基本上是較长期不变的,而宗教制度是常常因时間和地点的不同而改变的。     

具身框架下的社会认知研究述评

具身理论是继计算隐喻、联结主义之后诠释人类是如何获取知识表征世界这样一个本质性问题的新视角, 指出概念系统的建构对真实身体及其身体活动的体验的依赖, 即具身性。随着认知科学的快速发展, 具身理论已从原始阶段的哲学思辨成为认知心理学、社会认知等领域解释各种现象的一种新的研究范式。文章简要回顾了具身理论的起源及发展, 选取了社会认知心理学中主要的研究对象, 即态度、社会知觉、情绪等, 总结具身理论在这些领域的研究范式及最新研究成果。最后, 文章从实证的角度指出在社会认知领域中以具身理论为框架开展实证研究时值得注意的要点, 并提出此类研究结合其他研究视角(例如, 神经科学, 跨文化心理学)的可能性。     

牢固树立信心是积极引导适应的重要前提

佟钟时在宗教文化出版社出版的论文集《宗教工作的理论与实践》中撰写题为《牢固树立信心是积极引导适应的重要前提》的文章,认为在党的十六大报告中,提出“全面贯彻党的宗教信仰自由政策,依法管理宗教事务,坚持独立自主自办的原则,积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应”的基本方针,贯彻政策是基础,依法管理是保证,独立自办是原则,最终目的是为了引导适应。而引导适应的一个重要前提,就是要以“三个代表”重要思想为指导,正确认识和把握宗教社会作用的两重性,振奋精神树立信心,积极主动地开展工作。一、主动适应社会是宗教得以存在和发展的历…     

宗教与理性的跨文化心理学研究

信仰与世俗化科学之间的对立统一是自启蒙运动以来许多传统宗教社会所面临的问题。在当前的宗教心理学实证研究中,宗教信仰与科学理性的关系也日渐成为科学研究感兴趣的话题。同时在学科内部,宗教和科学关系的研究由于总是单向度的进行着,阻碍了对这一话题的深入探析。本文在相关宗教与理性关系的实证研究基础上,以美国基督徒、伊朗穆斯林、印度教徒等为主要研究对象,对宗教开放性假设进行跨文化的研究和探讨。同时采用意识形态模型(Ideological Surround Model,ISM)研究范式中的对话方式对相关实证研究结果进行进一步的思考和探索,鼓励跨文化的宗教信仰与科学理性的对话以及不同意识形态之间的对话,希望在理论上能够对国内宗教心理学的研究有所助益。     

面孔识别的自我群体偏向

面孔认知研究表明, 人们识别和再认自己所属群体(如种族、性别、年龄)面孔的成绩显著好于识别其他群体面孔的成绩。近年来围绕面孔识别的这种自我群体偏向进行了实验研究, 研究者提出了知觉经验说和社会认知论两种理论来解释其认知加工机制, 而类别化-个性化模型和双路径模型则是将两种理论分别加以整合提出的新解释。研究者还对面孔识别自我群体偏向的神经机制进行了研究, 探讨了评价者、评价对象和评价任务等因素对自我群体偏向的影响。提升面孔识别自我群体偏向研究的生态效度, 构建整合性理论模型以及加强跨文化和本土研究是未来研究的重要方向。     

Cognitive Science of Religion: Looking Back,Looking Forward

The cognitive science of religion (CSR) arose out of attempts to “science up” religious studies and the anthropology of religion without eliminating interpretive approaches. While maintaining this historical orientation, CSR holds promise to help bridge to other areas within the scientific study of religion. Particularly fruitful areas of future collaboration and complementary study are evolutionary studies of religion, psychology of religion, sociology of religion, and archeology of religion. In response to an invitation to explore the potential of CSR for the 50th anniversary of this journal, I briefly summarize CSR's history and current state and then offer exemplary future directions that might bring CSR into fruitful connection with other areas in the greater scientific study of religion.     

Religion as Orienting Worldview

Religions are complex, and any attempt at defining religion necessarily falls short. Nevertheless, any scholarly inquiry into the nature of religion must use some criteria in order to evaluate and study the character of religious traditions across contexts. To this end, I propose understanding religion in terms of an orienting worldview. Religions are worldviews that are expressed not only in beliefs but also in narratives and symbols. More than this, religions orient action, and any genuine religious tradition necessarily is concerned with normative behavior, whether ethical or religious in character. Such an understanding of religion has several advantages, one of which is its natural relation to current forms of the science-religion dialogue. Not only can the findings of cognitive science and related areas inform us about the nature of religion; scientific discoveries also prove to be important for any religious synthesis that attempts to construct a worldview for the twenty-first century.     

Metaphor and Thinking in Science and Religion

Excerpts from Chapters 1 and 3 of New Maps for Old: Explorations in Science and Religion (Gerhart and Russell 2001) explore the ramifications of metaphoric process for changes in thinking, especially those changes that lead to a new understanding of our world. Examples are provided from science, from religion, and from science and religion together. In excerpts from Chapter 8, a double analogy—theology is to science as science is to mathematics—is proposed for better understanding the contemporary relationship between science and religion. A conservation of epistemological sufficiency is disclosed as one moves from mathematics to empirical science to theology—a move from one discipline to another that involves a sacrifice of one aspect of thought to gain another.     

RELIGION AS A LANGUAGE: EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE PATHS IN CONVERSATION WITH POSTREDUCTIONIST ANTHROPOLOGIES

New scientific approaches to religion have delivered a considerable number of theories aimed at explaining it, despite its cognitive and adaptive oddities. These efforts were built on available theoretical frameworks, including those from cognitive science, biology, and anthropology. Many voices have raised criticism against several aspects in the cognitive and evolutionist program, even if recognizing their legitimacy and the fruits collected to date. A pressing issue is whether the problem with the new scientific study of religion is related, to some extent, to the use of outdated views on human evolution, mind, and behavior. If this is the case, then a deep revision concerning current models is required. The new direction proposed should account for more complex aspects of human nature following multilevel models, and a specific human feature—language—that could better explain religion as a meaning system. Understanding religion as a language might open an alternative path inside cognitive studies that is closer to how it is lived by believers.     

The Body as the Ground of Religion, Science, and Self

The human body is both religious subject and scientific object, the manifest locus of both religious gnosis and secular cognition. Embodiment provides the basis for a rich cross–fertilization between cognitive science and comparative religion, but cognitive studies must return to their empiricist scientific roots by reembodying subjectivity, thus spanning the natural bridge between the two fields. Referencing the ritual centrality and cognitive content of the body, I suggest a materialist but nonreductionist construct of the self as a substantial cognitive embodiment that embraces not just perception and cognition, mind and spirit, but the forceful physicality of the moving body. Proprioception of the body's moving mass constitutes a mode of knowing that resonates strongly with the experience of self, not only across religious traditions but also within the physical sciences. By way of illustration, two directions are suggested in which a construct of the self as a substantial cognitive embodiment might lead us: first, a body–based interpretation of the Islamic myth of Adam and Iblis that reveals an internal substantiality as constitutive of the divinely imaged Self, and second, a new, religious direction for human evolutionary theory based on the implications of an embodied intentionality.     

Religion and coping with health-related stress

Abstract

The empirical evidence concerning the association between various aspects of religion and adjustment to health-related stressors is reviewed, including examination of whether religion acts as a stress buffer or deterrent. Considerable literature suggests that some aspects of religion are consistently associated with adjustment to illness, and evidence for religion as a stress buffer and as a stress deterrent were found. Potential pathways by which religion may influence adjustment to illness were also delineated, including: (1) providing an interpretive framework or cognitive schema; (2) enhancing coping resources; and (3) facilitating access to social support and promoting social integration. Design, methodological and measurement limitations in the extant literature were noted. Further research is needed to elucidate how religion functions as a natural resource during health-related crises.     

RELIGION IS EASY,BUT SCIENCE IS HARD … UNDERSTANDING McCAULEY'S THESIS

Robert N. McCauley's new book Why Religion Is Natural and Science Is Not (2011) presents a new paradigm for investigating the relationship between science and religion by exploring the cognitive foundations of religious belief and scientific knowledge. McCauley's contention is that many of the differences and disagreements regarding religion and science are the product of distinct features of human cognition that process these two domains of knowledge very differently. McCauley's thesis provides valuable insights into this relationship while not necessarily leading to a dismissive view of theology or religious belief. His paradigm allows the research lens to focus on cognitive differences in processing scientific versus religious information and the important role of automatic, unconscious, and intuitive cognitive processes in understanding both the natural and supernatural worlds.     

Human Rights and Religion: A Sociological Perspective

This essay aims to review mainstream literature and research perspectives on the sociology of human rights with the further focus on relationship between human rights and religion. We consider the challenges of late engagement of sociology with human rights and current narratives of the relationship of human rights and religion that encompass normativity as the central category of historically oriented sociology. We discuss the contribution of two empirical research mainstreams on human rights and religion and focus on a new field of study—sociology of religious freedom. A detailed new agenda for sociological research on human rights and religion is explored in the final part of our assessment.