Cognitive Science of Religion Unit
Current Theories and Applications of the Cognitive Science of Religion
This call is intentionally broad in scope. We invite scholars who are using current cognitive theories and/or applied research in the study of religion, religions, or religious-related phenomena to submit a proposal for a paper or panel session for inclusion in the 2024 AAR-CSR Unit’s sessions.
4E Cognitive Approaches to Religious Phenomena
In recent years, 4E approaches to cognition have gained increasing attention. In contrast to computational approaches, which characterize cognition as a function of input and output, 4E describes cognition as embodied, embedded, enacted, and extended, complicating clear divisions between mind and world. Scholarship using this framework to explore religious phenomena has also been burgeoning. This call seeks papers exploring 4E approaches to religion. This might include instances of applied theory, methodological critics as they relate to religion, or even affinities between religious worldviews and those entailed by 4E.
Uncovering the Cognitive and Cultural Foundations of Gratitude
Historically, most research on gratitude as an emotional experience and its corresponding expressions has been conducted among WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) societies. The concept of gratitude and its phenomenology also has deep roots in Western civilization, and especially in Christianity. This panel explores the question of the gratitude as a universal experience and expression beyond WEIRD and Christian cultures by presenting research from a recent 3-year, multi-institution, multidisciplinary grant titled, “Uncovering the cognitive and cross-cultural foundations of gratitude”. Panel participants will likely be a mix of grantees from this project as well as non-grantee invited participants.
Terror Management Theory and Religion
This panel will explore religion from the perspective of Terror Management Theory. Please contact Kendra Holt Moore (kendraholtmoore@gmail.com) with questions.
Cosponsored: Psychadelics and the Cognitive Science of Religion
We invite proposals addressing psychedelic substances and spirit medicines in relation to contemplative practices and the neuropsychology of altered brain states, for co-sponsorship between the Cognitive Science of Religion Unit, Contemplative Studies Unit, and Indigenous Religious Traditions Unit.
This Unit is dedicated to advancing cognitive scientific approaches to the study of religion in a critically informed, historically responsible manner. “Cognitive science” designates a broadly interdisciplinary approach to the study of the mind that integrates research from the neurosciences, psychology (including developmental, cognitive, evolutionary, and social psychology), anthropology, and philosophy. The main goal of this Unit is to bring together cognitive scientists, historians of religion, ethnographers, empirically-oriented theologians, and philosophers of religion to explore applications of cognitive science to religious phenomena, as well as religious insights into the study of the human mind. We wish to consider ways in which historical and ethnographic data can be used to test theories and discuss theoretical and methodological concerns that are directly relevant to study design and data interpretation.