Bringing Ritual to Mind: Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms

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.

Author: Robert N. McCauley, E. Thomas Lawson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 08/15/2002
Pages: 252
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 9.06h x 5.94w x 0.64d
ISBN: 9780521016292

About the Author
McCauley, Robert N.: - ROBERT N. MCCAULEY is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Emory College Center for Teaching and Curriculum, Emory University.Lawson, E. Thomas: - E. THOMAS LAWSON is Professor of Comparative Religion at Western Michigan University and executive editor of the Journal of Cognition and Culture.

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