'Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG)'
Abstract
Previous research suggests that how people conceive of minds depends on the culture in which
they live, both in determining how they interact with other human minds and how they infer the
unseen minds of gods. We use exploratory factor analysis to compare how people from different
societies with distinct models of human minds and different religious traditions perceive the
minds of humans and gods. In two North American samples (American adults, N=186; Canadian
students, N=202), we replicated a previously found two-factor agency/experience structure for
both human and divine minds, but in Fijian samples (Indigenous iTaukei Fijians, N=77; Fijians
of Indian descent, N=214; total N=679) we found a three-factor structure, with the additional
containing items related to social relationships. Further, Fijians’ responses revealed a different
three-factor structure for human minds and gods’ minds. We used these factors as dimensions in
the conception of minds to predict a) expectations about human and divine tendencies towards
punishment and reward; and b) conception of gods as more embodied (an extension of
experience) or more able to know people’s thoughts (an extension of agency). We found
variation in how these factors predict conceptions of agents across groups, indicating further
theory is needed to explain how culturally generated concepts of mind lead to other sorts of
social inferences. We conclude that mind perception is shaped by culturally defined social
expectations and recommend further work in different cultural contexts to examine the interplay
between culture and social cognition.Cultural Evolution of Religion Research Consortiu