The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Religion

The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology and Religion offers a comprehensive and compelling review of research in religious beliefs and practices from an evolutionary perspective on human psychology. The chapters, written by renowned experts on human behavior and religion, explore a number of subtopics within one of three themes: (1) the psychological mechanisms of religion, (2) evolutionary perspectives on the functionality of religion, and (3) evolutionary perspectives on religion and group living.

This handbook unites the theoretical and empirical work of leading scholars in the evolutionary, cognitive, and anthropological sciences to produce an extensive and authoritative review of this literature. Its interdisciplinary approach makes it an important resource for a broad spectrum of researchers, graduate students, and advanced undergraduates who are interested in studying the factors and mechanisms that underlie and/or affect religious beliefs and behaviors.

James R. Liddle is a technical writer with 11 years of professional writing experience. He received a Master of Arts degree in Experimental Psychology, specializing in evolutionary psychology, from Florida Atlantic University in 2014. His primary areas of interest and expertise are the evolution of religious beliefs/behaviors and teaching evolutionary psychology.

Todd K. Shackelford is Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan., where he is Co-Director of the Evolutionary Psychology Lab. He received his Ph.D. in evolutionary psychology in 1997 from the University of Texas at Austin. Much of Dr. Shackelford's research addresses sexual conflict between men and women, with a special focus on men's physical, emotional, and sexual violence against their intimate partners.