Bringing Ritual to Mind: Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms

by Robert N. McCauley , E. Thomas Lawson

• ISBN13: 9780521016292
• ISBN10: 0521016290
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-02
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This study explores the psychological foundations of religious ritual systems. In practice, participants recall rituals to ensure a sense of continuity across performances, and those rituals motivate them to transmit and re-perform them. Most religious rituals exploit either high performance frequency or extraordinary emotional stimulation to enhance their recollection. Robert N. McCauley and E. Thomas Lawson assert that participants' cognitive representations of ritual form explain much about the systems. Reviewing a wide range of evidence, they explain religions' evolution.

Table of Contents

List of figures	viii
Preface	ix
Cognitive constraints on religious ritual form: a theory of participants' competence with religious ritual systems	1	(37)
Ritual and memory: frequency and flashbulbs	38	(51)
Two hypotheses concerning religious ritual and emotional stimulation	89	(35)
Assessing the two hypotheses	124	(55)
General profiles of religious ritual systems: the emerging cognitive science of religion	179	(34)
Notes	213	(8)
References	221	(7)
Index	228