Traditionally, ritual has been studied from broad sociocultural perspectives, with little
consideration of the psychological processes at play. Recently, however, psychologists have …

The relationship between religion and morality has long been hotly debated. Does religion
make us more moral? Is it necessary for morality? Do moral inclinations emerge …

A radical exploration of how rituals have influenced history over thousands of years. From
infancy, we copy those around us in order to be like others, to be one with the tribe. Other …

Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the
wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters …

While influential across a wide variety of subfields, cultural analysis in sociology continues to
be hampered by coarse-grained conceptualizations of the different modes in which culture …

Most social scientists endorse some version of the claim that participating in collective rituals
promotes social cohesion. The systematic testing and evaluation of this claim, however, has …

Why are negative emotions so central in art reception far beyond tragedy? Revisiting
classical aesthetics in the light of recent psychological research, we present a novel model …

Identity fusion is a relatively unexplored form of alignment with groups that entails a visceral
feeling of oneness with the group. This feeling is associated with unusually porous, highly …

What motivates ordinary civilians to sacrifice their lives for revolutionary causes? We
surveyed 179 Libyan revolutionaries during the 2011 conflict in Libya. These civilians-turned …

The battle between religion and science, competing methods of knowing ourselves and our
world, has been raging for many centuries. Now scientists themselves are looking at …