Toward a Cognitive Ecology of Religious Concepts
Evidence from the Tyva Republic
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.v1i1.99Keywords:
religious concepts, cognitive ecology, Tyva Republic, ritual behavior, MCI theory, schema theoryAbstract
Using data collected in the Tyva Republic, the present work sheds light on the dynamic nature of religious cognition. In doing so, it reveals important patterns in the representation and distribution of religious concepts in this remote corner of the globe. This paper first introduces a cognitive ecological account of religion by examining human representational structures and how they interact with features of the environment. It then discusses this interaction in light of some Tyvan folktales followed by a report of how Tyvan spirit-masters’ forms correspond to type of landmark; anthropomorphic spirit-masters are associated with regions whereas zoomorphic spirits are associated with discrete resources. It concludes by highlighting a number of important questions which emerge from a cognitive ecological view of religious concepts.
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Harmon-Vuki?, Mary, M. Afzal Upal, and Kelly J. Sheehan. 2012. Understanding the memory advantage of counterintuitive concepts. Religion, Brain and Behavior 2(2): 121–139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2012.672816
Harrison, David. 2000. Topics in the Phonology and Morphology of Tuvan. Doctoral Dissertation, Yale University.
Humphrey, Caroline. 1995. “Chiefly and shamanist landscapes in Mongolia.” In The Anthropology of Landscape: Perspectives on Place and Space, edited by Eric Hirsch and Michael O’Hanlon, 135–162. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
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Johnson, Claire V. M., S. W. Kelly, and Paul Bishop. 2010. “Measuring the Mnemonic Advantage of Counter-intuitive and Counter-schematic Concepts.” Journal of Cognition and Culture 10(1): 109–121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853710X497194
Johnson, Dominic D. P. 2005. “God’s Punishment and Public Goods: A Test of the Supernatural Punishment Hypothesis in 186 World Cultures.” Human Nature 16: 410–446. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12110-005-1017-0
Keil, Frank C. 1996. Concepts, Kinds, and Cognitive Development. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Lahti, David C. 2009. “The Correlated History of Social Organization, Morality, and Religion.” In The Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior, edited by Eckart Voland and Wulf Schiefenhövel, 67–88. New York: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00128-4_5
Laland, Kevin N., John Odling-Smee, and Marcus W. Feldman. 2000. “Niche Construction, Biological Evolution, and Cultural Change.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23: 131–175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00002417
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Norenzayan, A., Scott Atran, Jason Faulkner, and Mark Schaller. 2006. “Memory and Mystery: The Cultural Selection of Minimally Counterintuitive Narratives.” Cognitive Science 30: 1–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0000_68
Odling-Smee, F. John. 1996. “Niche Construction, Genetic Evolution and Cultural Change.” Behavioural Processes 35: 195–205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0376-6357(95)00055-0
Pinker, Steven. 2010. “The Cognitive Niche: Coevolution of Intelligence, Sociality, and Language.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 (Supplement 2): 8993–8999. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0914630107
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Published
2012-08-13
Issue
Section
Research Report
License
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
How to Cite
PurzyckI, B. G. (2012). Toward a Cognitive Ecology of Religious Concepts: Evidence from the Tyva Republic. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 1(1), 99-120. https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.v1i1.99
