Cognitive Science and Religious Intuitions: A Developmental Perspective

Jesse Bering

Institute of Cognition and Culture

Queen’s University, Belfast

This course will cover recent theoretical and empirical advances—as well as contemporary debates—in the cognitive science of religion, with a special focus on cognitive development and children’s implicit representations, reasoning, and beliefs. Experimental approaches and design-related matters will be a priority, and students will be asked to consider the broad question of whether or not religious beliefs are “intuitive” products of evolved human cognition. In this context, the course will explore the evolutionary assumptions of this religion-is-natural theoretical stance, attempt to identify the core questions still left unanswered, and chart out the most important research directions for the future.

Day 1: The Question of ‘Naturalness’

Required readings:

Bloom, P. (2007). Religion is natural.  Developmental Science, 10, 147-151.

Boyer, P. (2008). Evolutionary perspectives on religion. Annual Review of Anthropology, 37, 111-130.

Additional readings:

Bering, J. M. (2006). The folk psychology of souls. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 29, 453-462.

Geertz, A. W. &  Markússon, G. I. (in press). Religion is natural, atheism is not: On why everybody is both right and wrong. Religion

Day 2: Afterlife Beliefs

Required readings:

Bering, J. M., & Bjorklund, D.F. (2004). The natural emergence of reasoning about the afterlife as a developmental regularity. Developmental Psychology, 40, 217-233.

Astuti, R. & Harris, P. L. (2008). Understanding mortality and the life of the ancestors in rural Madagascar. Cognitive Science, 32, 713-740. 

Additional readings:

Bering, J. M., Hernández-Blasi, C., Bjorklund, D. F. (2005). The development of ‘afterlife’ beliefs in  secularly and religiously schooled children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 23, 587-607.

Richert, R. A., & Harris, P. L. (2008). Dualism revisited: Body vs. mind vs. soul. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 8, 99-115. 

Nichols, S. (2007). Imagination and immortality: Thinking of me. Synthese, 159, 215-233.

Day 3: Intelligent Design and Creationism

Required readings:

Kelemen, D. (2004). Are children ‘intuitive theists?’ Reasoning about purpose and design in nature. Psychological Science, 15, 295-301.

Evans, E. M. (2008). Conceptual change and evolutionary biology: A developmental analysis. In S. Vosniadou (Ed.), International Handbook of Research on Conceptual Change. Pp. 263-294. New York:Routledge.

Additional readings:

Bering, J. (2010). The nonexistent purpose of people: Have our minds evolved to see human beings as types of artifacts? The Psychologist, 23, 290-293.

Kelemen, D., & Rosset, E. (2009). The human function compunction: Teleological explanation in adults. Cognition, 111, 138-143.

Day 4: Supernatural agents’ minds

Required readings:

Bering, J. M. & Parker, B. D. (2006). Children’s attributions of intentions to an invisible agent. Developmental Psychology, 42, 253-262.

Lane, J., Wellman, H. W., Evans, & E. M. (in press). Children's understanding of ordinary and extraordinary minds. Child Development.

Additional readings:

Barrett, J. L., Richert, R. A., & Driesenga, A. (2001). God’s beliefs versus mother’s. Child Development, 72, 50-65.

Bering, J. M. (2002). The existential theory of mind. Review of General Psychology, 6, 3-24.

Day 5: Culture and learning

Required readings:

Harris, P. L. & Koenig, M. A. (2006). Trust in testimony: How children learn about science and religion. Child Development, 77, 505-524.

Boerger, R. A., Tullos, A., & Woolley, J. (2009). Return of the Candy Witch: Individual differences in the acceptance and stability of belief in a novel fantastical being. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27

Additional readings:

Knight, N., Sousa, P., Barrett, J. & S. Atran. (2004). Children’s attributions of belief to humans and God: cross-cultural evidence. Cognitive Science, 2004, 28, 117-126.

Seminars

During the seminars, experimental and simulation work will be planned and discussed.

Assessment

At the end of the week, students will be assessed on the basis of their written paper (approx. 5 pages double-spaced).

Jesse Bering

Jesse received his PhD in Developmental Psychology from Florida Atlantic University in 2002, and was then an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas for four years. He is now a Reader in the School of History and Anthropology at the Queen’s University, Belfast and Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture. Jesse has published over sixty articles, chapters, and peer-reviewed conference papers on various topics of social cognition, with most his research exploring the cognitive bases of religion. He just completed his first book, The Belief Instinct, which is scheduled to be released February, 2011. Jesse is also the voice behind the featured Scientific American column “Bering in Mind,” which was recently named an official 2010 Webby Honoree for the “blog-cultural” category by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.