Homøostatisk intentionalitet vs. epistemisk kohærens

Balkanisering er det fænomen, at mennesker tilsyneladende kan leve med indbyrdes modstridende forestillinger i et religiøst verdensbillede, uden at disse modsigelser problematiseres. Fænomenet er en torn i øjet på religionsvidenskaben, der ofte antager at mennesker i en kultur opfatter religiøse forestillinger som et epistemisk sammenhængende system. I denne artikel argumenterer jeg for, at religiøse forestillinger ikke behøver at være indbyrdes kohærente for at overleve i den troendes forestillingsverden. Tværtimod, for at afhjælpe individet i alle livets aspekter, er det nødvendigt at bryde med systemets indbyrdes kohærens og åbne for produktionen af optimale strategier designet til at løse specifikke problemer

DEN RELIGIØSE HJERNE – En introduktion til religionsvidenskabelig hjerneforskning

Interessen for hjerneforskning har bredt sig til religionsvidenskaben, men en egentlig religionsvidenskabelig hjerneforskning er hæmmet af en utilstrækkelig viden om religion blandt hjerneforskere og en begrænset indsigt i feltets metodiske og fortolkningsmæssige problemer blandt religionsforskere. Denne artikel introducerer nogle af disse problemer og gennemgår de væsentligste studier på området. Det er afgørende, hvis feltet skal udvikles i fremtiden, at det teoretiske grundlag forbedres, så en neuroteologisk forestilling om den religiøse oplevelses unikke status erstattes med en moderne tilgang. Ved at antage, at religiøse strategier er konkrete mentale handlinger med neurale korrelater, der svarer til handlingens kognitive indhold, forsøger jeg med mit projekt at dreje disciplinen i retningen af en mindre kontroversiel og bedre funderet religionsvidenskabelig hjerneforsknin

Religious Unbelief in Three Western European Countries : Identifying and Characterizing Unbeliever Types Using Latent Class Analysis

The different forms of religious unbelief are still much of an open question. Using data (N = 4,404) from three European countries-Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands-we sought to identify underlying unbeliever groups among those with the strongest disbelief in God (N = 2,258). Latent class analyses were conducted on the nontheistic supernatural beliefs of this subsection of participants, resulting in the same three unbeliever groups in each country: analytic atheists, spiritual but not religious (SBNR), and uncertain nonbelievers. Next, we explored these groups on a variety of dimensions, especially on the group members' attitudes to religion, certainty of beliefs, cognitive dispositions, and worldview. One-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs) revealed similarities as well as distinct characters for each of the latent groups. The groups differed most in intuitive thinking style, overmentalizing bias, and other ontological confusions. To compare the latent groups to all other individuals who took part in the study, two discriminant analyses were run with all participants. This resulted in four meaningful dimensions that supported and extended the ANOVAs findings and allowed for the consideration of other (non)believers. Overall, this study supports earlier findings on analytic atheists and SBNR while providing new information about their dispositions. Of interest, the uncertain nonbeliever group has been largely unexplored previously, and it should gain more attention in future studies.Peer reviewe

Kulturkristendom og kulturasetro i Danmark: et komparativt surveystudie: Hvor meget identificerer danskere sig med den kristne og den oldnordiske kultur? Opfattes ‘danske værdier’ som oprindeligt kristne eller oldnordiske?

SUMMARY: We show, for the first time, the relative strength of Danish identification with Christian culture and Old Norse culture. The study uses two measures: 1) the Identity Fusion (IF) scale to measure personal identification with a given culture, and 2) a task that measures the extent to which participants attribute central Danish values to a Christian or an Old Norse cultural heritage. We find across two samples (2021 n= 180; 2022 n=161) a consistent pattern. The IF scale reveals that Danes identify with both Christian and Old Norse cultures. The relative strength differs with approximately one unit on the IF with an almost 50% overlap between self and Christian culture, and an almost 25% overlap between self and Old Norse culture. We find a corresponding pattern on the value attribution task. The participants attribute values to both Christian and Old Norse cultural heritage, but also to other cultural repertoires. The origins of most, but not all, Danish values are attributed relatively more to the Christian heritage by approximately 30-35% of each value, while the Old Norse heritage is attributed approximately 20-25% of each value. Although the pattern is much more complex, we make the conjecture based on these results that Old Norse culture makes up 20-25% of the personal as well as the national identity of Danes. RESUME: Vi kvantificerer for første gang styrkeforholdet mellem danskernes identificering med henholdsvis kristen og oldnordisk kultur. Undersøgelsen anvender to måleredskaber, 1) Identity fusion (IF) skalaen, som måler deltagernes personlige identificering med en bestemt kultur, og 2) en fordelingsøvelse, som måler i hvilken grad deltagerne tilskriver danske værdier en kristen eller en oldnordisk kulturarv. Vi finder i to stikprøver fra henholdsvis 2021 (n= 180) og 2022 (n=161) et klart mønster: deltagerne identificerer sig både med kristen og oldnordisk kultur, og den relative styrke viser ca. én enheds forskel på IF-skalaen, nemlig, et næsten 50% selvrapporteret overlap mellem selv og kristen kultur, og et næsten 25% overlap mellem selv og oldnordisk kultur. Vi finder et tilsvarende mønster på tilskrivningen af værdier. Deltagerne tilskriver danske værdier både en kristen og en oldnordisk kulturarv, men de tilskriver også værdier andre kulturelle repertoires. De fleste værdier tilskrives i højere grad en kristen kulturarv (ca. 30-35%) end en oldnordisk kulturarv (20-25%). Virkeligheden er selvfølgelig mere kompleks; men vi foreslår baseret på disse resultater, at oldnordisk kultur udgør ca. 20-25% af danskernes personlige og nationale identitet

Religion som strømme i en flydende bevidsthed

Archaeologist Steven Mithen claims to show how and why the human mind developed into a culturally capable entity. By adopting the notion of the ontogenetic recapitulation of phylogeny, Mithen integrates several different perspectives on developmental psychology with the state of the art of archaeological data. According to Mithen the mind has undergone some important changes during the last couple of million years ending with what Mithen calls Cognitive Fluidity. A cognitively fluid mind is the only architecture that allows abstract thinking and use of symbols. This article, however, argues that Mithen’s cognitive approach suffers from important theoretical inconsistencies, since much of the research involved seem to contradict each other. Thus psychologist Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence theory does not fit well into philosopher Jerry Fodor’s theory of mind, while developmental psychologist Karmiloff-Smith’s developmental theory is interesting to Mithen only if recapitulation is accepted as a framework, and even then problems seem to exist between Mithen’s abrupt jump into a cognitively fluid mind about 40,000 years ago and Karmiloff-Smith’s domain specific developmental stages. In my view, Steven Mithen’s Book, The Prehistory of the Mind does not offer a satisfying account of how the mind finally went fluid and became able to perform complex artifacts and religious behaviour

The psychological benefits of scary play in three types of horror fans

Why do people seek out frightening leisure activities such as horror films and haunted attractions, and does the experience benefit them in any way? In this article, we address these questions through two separate studies. In Study 1, we asked American horror fans (n = 256) why they like horror and identified three overall types of horror fans which we term “Adrenaline Junkies,” “White Knucklers,” and “Dark Copers.” In Study 2, we collected data from Danish visitors at a haunted house attraction (n = 258) and replicated the findings from Study 1 by identifying the same three types of horror fans. Furthermore, we show that these three types of horror fans report distinct benefits from horror experiences. Adrenaline Junkies reported immediate enjoyment, White Knucklers reported personal growth, and Dark Copers reported both. These results suggest that frightening leisure activities are not just an outlet for Adrenaline Junkies and sensation-seekers, but that the allure of horror has as much to do with its potential as a stimulus for personal growth as it has with enjoyment