Testing theories of secularization and religious belief in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Positive experiences of high arousal martial arts rituals are linked to identity fusion and costly pro‐group actions

“…Additionally, harsh initiations can serve as an advertisement to potential members of the high status and desirable nature of the group through demonstrating the hardship that potential members are willing to endure in order to join. Mathematical evolutionary models provided preliminary evidence in support of this hypothesis (Henrich, 2009) but more recently two independent studies have provided real world empirical evidence (Lanman & Buhrmester, 2017;Willard & Cingl, 2017). This is a strong claim that Cimino recognises requires further evidence to validate, but his proposal accords with other recent research that discusses the ability of costly rituals to serve as a reliable and trustworthy 'signal' of commitment to a group and its members (Bulbulia, 2004;Bulbulia & Sosis, 2011;Cimino, 2011;Sosis & Alcorta, 2003).…”

“…Cimino suggests that the importance of such a mechanism over evolutionary history has resulted in human minds possessing 'psychological mechanisms that motivate the strategic devaluation of coalition newcomers ' (2013, p. 447). Specifically, the studies found that individuals' exposure to religious CREDs, including parents attending ritual events, such as Catholic mass services, predicted subsequent endorsement of theism and supernatural beliefs in samples collected in America (Lanman & Buhrmester, 2017), the Czech Republic, and Slovakia (Willard & Cingl, 2017). A prominent advocate of this approach is Henrich (2009), who suggests that rituals, particularly those that involve significant physical or material costs, should be understood as a type of 'credibility enhancing display' (CRED) that enables cultural learners to better identify reliable cultural models.…”

“…A prominent advocate of this approach is Henrich (2009), who suggests that rituals, particularly those that involve significant physical or material costs, should be understood as a type of 'credibility enhancing display' (CRED) that enables cultural learners to better identify reliable cultural models. Mathematical evolutionary models provided preliminary evidence in support of this hypothesis (Henrich, 2009) but more recently two independent studies have provided real world empirical evidence (Lanman & Buhrmester, 2017;Willard & Cingl, 2017). Specifically, the studies found that individuals' exposure to religious CREDs, including parents attending ritual events, such as Catholic mass services, predicted subsequent endorsement of theism and supernatural beliefs in samples collected in America (Lanman & Buhrmester, 2017), the Czech Republic, and Slovakia (Willard & Cingl, 2017).…”

Practical Methodological Reform Needs Good Theory

“…Specifically in this case, theory could help 1) select effects which might be sample-moderated according to prespecified theoretical expectations, rather than vaguely specified intuitions, 2) select the samples which would make strong tests of underlying constructs, xi 3) aid in designing a moderating measure that goes beyond a binary split of an amalgamation of archival data sources that correspond to letters in an acronym, and 4) evaluate the strength of underlying evidence. Alas, this test has not been conducted yet, but theoretically-driven approaches to culture tend to be able to specify when cultural heterogeneity is expected (e.g., Gervais et al, 2017;Henrich et al, 2006;Kitayama & Cohen, 2010;Kline et al, 2018;Legare et al, 2012;McNamara et al, 2019;Purzycki et al, 2016;Smaldino, Lukaszewski, et al, 2019;Willard & Cingl, 2017), while also being able to specify instances where homogeneity might instead be more likely (e.g., Apicella et al, 2012;Sznycer et al, 2017).…”

The Origins of Religious Disbelief: A Dual Inheritance Approach

“…We measured feelings of existential security, which corresponds to apatheism, with a number of items assessing concerns that are salient to participants and participant faith in institutions like the government, health care, and social security to provide aid in the face of need (Willard & Cingl, 2017). Items measuring faith in institutions were reverse-scored, and all items were averaged together to form a composite index of existential insecurity (α = 0.77, M = 2.2, SD = 0.39).…”