Dreams as a source of supernatural agent concepts

Abstract

We present a theory of the creativity of dreams as well as psychopathology of religious delusions with respect to production of fundamental forms of religious cognition—specifically supernatural agent (SA) cognitions. We suggest that dream cognitions are particularly efficient at producing highly memorable and impactful experiences with SAs because dreams involve three processes that are prerequisites for the generation of god concepts: (1) mental simulations of alternative realities, (2) theory of mind attributions to the extra-natural dream characters and divine beings, and (3) attribution of ultimate value (exemplified by ‘good spirit beings’), and dis-value (exemplified by demonic monsters) to the supernatural dream characters. Because prefrontal cortex is deactivated during rapid eye movements (REM) sleep agentic impulses and internally generated ideas are not reliably attributed to Self or dreamer. Instead an exaggerated degree of agency is attributed to these supernatural dream characters who are then embedded in stories in dreams and in myths of waking life which explain their supernatural abilities. These dream-based SAs are salient characters that are processed in sleep-related memory systems according to rules of Lleweelyn’s ancient art of memory model and therefore more easily remembered and reflected upon during waking life. When REM sleep intrudes into waking consciousness, as is the case with some forms of schizophrenia, religious delusions are more likely to emerge.

Measuring Counterintuitiveness in Supernatural Agent Dream Imagery

“…Further, religious dreaming draws upon the same neurocognitive mechanisms as do ordinary dreaming and cognitive processing, as well as the cultural transmission biases that amplify and contextualize the spreading and preservation of representations about dreaming. It has been noted that, with some exceptions (e.g., Bulkeley, 2007; Nordin, 2011; McNamara and Bulkeley, 2015; McNamara, 2016), dreaming has not garnered much attention in the cognitive science of religion and related fields (c.f., Bulkeley, 2004, p. 22; Taves, 2008). While anthropological literature points to the cross-cultural pervasiveness of supernaturalism in dreams, and the cognitive science of religion has paid a lot of attention to the cognitive and or functional peculiarities of supernaturalism, there are very little cross-cultural data and research on the cognition of supernatural dreaming.…”

“…On the other hand, why does the dream cognition start to represent extraordinary or counterintuitive properties? Neurocognitive theories further suggest that the combination of dream simulation, theory of mind attribution, and high dopaminergic/low serotonergic activation generates special (religious) value hierarchies (McNamara and Bulkeley, 2015; McNamara, 2016) in REM sleep at the same time as a significant deactivation of the prefrontal cortex occurs. Such states would seem to deplete the attributions of an agentic self-model being the cause of the dream events while at the same time exaggerating the salience of a sense of agency attributed to supernatural characters in the dream (McNamara and Bulkeley, 2015; McNamara, 2016).…”

“…Such supernaturalistic conceptualizations manifest in a cognitive environment of dream simulation processes, threat detection, and violation of basic conceptual categorization characterized by counterintuitiveness. By addressing SA cognitions as constituents of allegedly religious dream imagery, additional theorizing and supporting data are presented in a growing body of research in the cognitive science of religion (e.g., Barrett et al, 2009;Hornbeck and Barrett, 2013;Barrett, 2017) and on religious dreaming (McNamara and Bulkeley, 2015;McNamara, 2016). The aim of the article is partly to map and align contemporary theorizing regarding counterintuitiveness and CI schemes with empirical qualification of the prosaic hypothesis about the predominance of supernaturalism in allegedly religious dreaming.…”

Response: Commentary: Measuring Counterintuitiveness in Supernatural Agent Dream Imagery

“…In the article, we refer to various studies (McNamara and Bulkeley, 2015;McNamara, 2016;McNamara et al, 2018) that stress the prevalence of co-occurrence of a diminished sense of personal agency and a tendency to construct SA cognition during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. One possible explanation of this that we discuss is the hypothesis that dreamers produce SA cognition about agency in searching for extrinsic event causes during REM sleep (references above).…”

Commentary: Measuring Counterintuitiveness in Supernatural Agent Dream Imagery

“…Following McNamara and Bulkeley (2015), Nordin and Bjälkebring argue that the physiology of dreaming entails a diminished sense of personal agency, which could undergird SA cognition in light of the self 's corresponding search for extrinsic event causes. Why, however, would subjects interact with SA concepts rather than other non-self concepts during dreaming?…”