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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit

@rcc-au.bsky.social
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Aarhus University

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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
RCC welcomes Renatas Berniūnas, our new postdoc! For the next couple years, Renatas will be spearheading a wide range of studies conducted in Mongolia.
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Report on the state of scholarship in anthropology by Joe Henrich. The relevance of the report goes far beyond anthropology. www.vanderbilt.edu/principles/s...
vanderbilt.edu
Joseph Henrich
The Task This document represents a supporting chapter in our Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and the Humanistic Social Sciences. Our interdisciplinary panel was charged with asse...
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
RCC affiliate Connor Wood unleashes "Top-Down to Bottom-Up" in BBS! Cognition, coordination, and ritual.
cambridge.org
TOP-DOWN TO BOTTOM-UP: RHYTHMIC SYNCHRONY RELAXES SOCIAL PRIORS TO ENABLE CHANGE | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
TOP-DOWN TO BOTTOM-UP: RHYTHMIC SYNCHRONY RELAXES SOCIAL PRIORS TO ENABLE CHANGE
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Danica Dillion @danicajdillion.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Major thanks to my co-first author Shiyun Cao and to the rest of our fantastic team @joshcjackson.bsky.social, @josephwatts.bsky.social, and Aaron Lightner. . The full paper is available here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Moralistic supernatural explanations were widespread and attributed to many different supernatural agents in historical societies
Many people explain disease and calamity as supernatural punishment for immoral behavior, and health and prosperity as supernatural reward for moral b…
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
New in press! RCCster @djsmith90.bsky.social et al. on religiosity, prosocial values, and mental health in RBB! www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
tandfonline.com
Examining potential causal relationships between religiosity and prosocial values, and prosocial values and mental health, in young adulthood in a UK cohort study
Reader environment loaded
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
Theiss Bendixen @theissbendixen.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
New research! 📚 We built the largest database to date of cephalopod species - octopuses, squids and cuttlefish - and their brains, habitats and behaviors 🐙🧠📈 What did we find?👇 Press release: www.lse.ac.uk/news/ecologi... Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
IACESR Society @iacesr.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Kicking off the first parallel session, Ben Purzycki introduced the Gods, Games, and Socio-Ecological Landscapes project. The team is testing a functionalist hypothesis: do differences in ecological threat create different trust problems, and does religion (or religious cognition) help solve them?
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
Theiss Bendixen @theissbendixen.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
It's alive! 🎉 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁'𝘀 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 is out -- an introduction to causal inference in practice. The first two chapters are available for free here: theissbendixen.com/dag-book/ More below 👇
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
RCC alum Ingela Visuri's book just released! *Autism and the Supernatural: Experiential Dimensions of Religiosity, Spirituality and Imagination* is out now from @equinoxpub.bsky.social. Congrats Ingela! equinoxonlinelibrary.com/book/59571/a...
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Theiss Bendixen @theissbendixen.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Imagine a short book (~200 p.) introducing Bayesian statistics in the context of clinical trials and drug development. Scope would be introductory -- sort of "your first short course on Bayes". But practical enough to be applied out of the box. What would you like to see covered in such a text? 👇
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Dan Major-Smith @djsmith90.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Do supernatural punishment beliefs promote cooperation beyond parochial boundaries? And is this effect stronger in "moralistic" religious traditions (eg Christianity, Hinduism)? Working with some of best & brightest in our field, that's what our new prereg aims to answer: github.com/bgpurzycki/G...
github.com
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
"'Genius' is one of the most overused words in the language, with 'asshole' not far behind, and I have known few people who truly deserved either label. Robert deserved both."
robertc12.substack.com
Remembering Robert Trivers
Robert Trivers, who died on March 12, 2026, was arguably the most important evolutionary theorist since Darwin.
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Coming soonish!
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Just published open access at Field Methods! Uncertainty and ethnographic methods! @djsmith90.bsky.social @bgpurzycki.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.....
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
RCC’s @bgpurzycki.bsky.social makes a cameo on @templetonrelig.bsky.social’s SCORE project vid! youtu.be/73kb1mddsZY?...
youtu.be
Using Science’s Tools to Understand Religion’s Impact on Cooperation
YouTube video by Templeton Religion Trust
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
AnthroTools: A Package in R @anthrotools.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
"Modeling Uncertainty around Free-list Cultural Salience Scores" by @rcc-au.bsky.social's @djsmith90.bsky.social and @bgpurzycki.bsky.social OnlineFirst up now at Field Methods journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... #AnthroTools #quantethnography
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Nicholas Gibson @njsgibson.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
If you're a data scientist interested in a full-time or part-time role working with developmental psychologists on cross-cultural data from parents and children, check out this position with the Developing Belief Network. Application review begins October 15, 2025. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
Position: Full-Time Data Scientist, Developing Belief Network
Position: Full-Time Data Scientist, Developing Belief Network Description: We are looking for a full-time data scientist to join the Developing Belief Network, a global team of psychologists studying...
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
RCC's Lauritz Holm Petersen successfully defended his dissertation, *The Ebb and Flow of Apocalypse: A Systems Theory Approach to Religious Endtime Narratives*! Tillykke Lauritz!
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Congratulations to RCC’s Jesper Sørensen on successfully defending his higher doctoral dissertation today! Skål!
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 31/08/2025
RCC representing at IAHR 2025 in Krakow! @djsmith90.bsky.social @bgpurzycki.bsky.social
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Double whammy just out with RCC's @djsmith90.bsky.social Longitudinal projects and causal inference! Religion and trauma: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... Climate change concern and mental health: doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
doi.org
Does concern regarding climate change impact subsequent mental health? A longitudinal analysis using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) | Royal Society Open Science
Climate change is having a substantial—and increasingly severe—impact on our planet, affecting people’s health, security and livelihoods. As a consequence, the concept of ‘climate anxiety’ has recentl...
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Book symposium for Jesper Sørensen’s *Why Cultures Persist* posted online at Religion, Brain and Behavior. With commentaries from, among others, RCC’s Anders Klostergaard Petersen and @bgpurzycki.bsky.social. www.tandfonline.com/action/showA...
tandfonline.com
Latest articles from Religion, Brain & Behavior
Browse the latest articles and research from Religion, Brain & Behavior
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
RCC’s @bgpurzycki.bsky.social talking about gods on @artefr.bsky.social’s show Stimmt es, dass…? www.arte.tv/de/videos/12...
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Justin Weinberg @dailynous.com · 20/06/2025
Philosopher Helen De Cruz has died.
dailynous.com
Helen De Cruz (1978-2025) - Daily Nous
Helen De Cruz, professor of philosophy at Saint Louis University, has died. Professor De Cruz specialized in philosophy of religion and cognitive science. They were the author of Wonderstruck: How Won...
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Free online for the next two weeks: @bgpurzycki.bsky.social‘s *Morality and the Gods*. www.cambridge.org/core/element...
cambridge.org
Morality and the Gods
Cambridge Core - Applied Psychology - Morality and the Gods
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
New from RCC's @djsmith90.bsky.social et al.!
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Elspeth Ready @elspethready.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Job announcement 🚨: paid fieldwork opportunity with Sanguatsiniq research project! Details in thread ⬇️ Please share!
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Nicholas Gibson @njsgibson.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Post-doc opportunities in religious cognition don't come up too often these days, but here's a good one in the Czech Republic with @martinlangcz.bsky.social www.muni.cz/en/about-us/...
muni.cz
Postdoctoral researcher in social cognition | Masaryk University
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
AnthroTools: A Package in R @anthrotools.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
AnthroTools 2.0 is live! Nine new functions that propagate, plot, and summarize uncertainty around item and cultural salience values. @djsmith90.bsky.social @bgpurzycki.bsky.social @rcc-au.bsky.social
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Another offering from RCC's @djsmith90.bsky.social!
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Warm preprint from RCC's @djsmith90.bsky.social and @bgpurzycki.bsky.social! Embracing uncertainty in quantitative ethnography!
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
No clear co-causal evidence of religion and mental health! Hot off the digital press from RCC's @djsmith90.bsky.social! journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
Ruth Mace @ruthmace.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Having a monk in the family is associated with lower mortality in older Tibetans: a seven-year prospective cohort study Liqiong Zhou @erhaoworld.bsky.social et al |Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core - www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Having a monk in the family and all-cause mortality: a seven-year prospective cohort study | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Having a monk in the family and all-cause mortality: a seven-year prospective cohort study - Volume 7
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
Léo Fitouchi @lfitouchi.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Where do moralizing religions come from? Useless cognitive by-products?Cultural group selection for complex societies? Our Psych Review paper argues: neither. Let’s rethink their cognitive & evolutionary origins🧵 w/ @manvir.bsky.social @nbaumard @jbaptistandre.bsky.social doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
Valerie van Mulukom @herebehumans.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Apply for a fellowship to join us for 2 years at Oxford Brookes Uni! Deadline is 18 March. (<7 years of active full time postdoctoral experience at the time of application)
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Martin Lang @martinlangcz.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Postdoc position available in our team! We are testing a computational model explaining the decision-making process during in normative/moral situations while incorporating the formative role of culture in this process. www.muni.cz/en/about-us/... #socialpsyc #PsychSciSky #cogpsyc
muni.cz
Postdoctoral researcher in social cognition | Masaryk University
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
Interested in examining culture, cultural models, and what people think, know, and believe? New book from RCC’s @bgpurzycki.bsky.social coming soon as part of Sage’s “Little Green Book” series! collegepublishing.sagepub.com/products/eth...
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
From the desk of RCC's @bgpurzycki.bsky.social: "Does cultural variance lie more between or within groups? The AnthroTools R package now includes a cultural FST calculator for two or more groups." anthrotools.wordpress.com
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Jana Nenadalová and RCC's Armin Geertz engage in a spirited debate about the "neuroscience of religion" out now in the Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion www.researchgate.net/publication/...
researchgate.net
On Methodological Agnosticism and Neurotheology: A Reply to David B. Yaden | Request PDF
Request PDF | On Nov 5, 2024, Jana Nenadalová and others published On Methodological Agnosticism and Neurotheology: A Reply to David B. Yaden | Find, read and cite all the research you need on Researc...
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Pre-print *Morality and the Gods* from RCC's @bgpurzycki.bsky.social www.academia.edu/126919815/Mo...
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
In-browser app for coding qualitative data. Something to check out.
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
RCC’s Berniūnas, Geertz, Schjødt, Sørensen, and @bgpurzycki.bsky.social represent the “Aarhus School” in a batch of commentaries on John Teehan’s RBB target article “Toward an embodied cognitive science of religion: enaction, evolution, emergence” www.tandfonline.com/toc/rrbb20/0/0
tandfonline.com
Latest articles from Religion, Brain & Behavior
Browse the latest articles and research from Religion, Brain & Behavior
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Centre for Culture and Evolution @brunelcce.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
📢 The final CCE seminar of 2024 is coming up soon with @djsmith90.bsky.social leading us into the 🎄 festive 🎄season with a presentation on *Religion and mental health: a causal Christmas carol* 🎅 📆 18th Dec 2024 - 12:45 in person start with food, 13:00 online talk start 🔓Open to all
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Evolution of twinning! Cog. and evo. of religion folks take note!
cambridge.org
A gene–culture co-evolutionary perspective on the puzzle of human twinship | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
A gene–culture co-evolutionary perspective on the puzzle of human twinship - Volume 6
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
ATTN: folks in Portugal!
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Reposted by Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit
Dominik Deffner @dominikdeffner.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
How to link theory and data in cultural evolution (and beyond)? We propose a computational workflow that starts from generative models of empirical phenomena and logically connects statistical estimates to both theory and real-world explanatory goals. Out now in PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Bridging theory and data: A computational workflow for cultural evolution | PNAS
Cultural evolution applies evolutionary concepts and tools to explain the change of culture over time. Despite advances in both theoretical and emp...
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 22/10/2024
Informal survey on the global ubiquity of using monsters to scare naughty children. thetoyzone.com/nightmare-fu...
thetoyzone.com
Nightmare Fuel: Iterations of the Boogeyman in (Almost) Every Country - TheToyZone
Kids playing up? Sometimes positive reinforcement isn’t going to cut it. Sometimes, you need to bring in the big guns.
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Dan Major-Smith @djsmith90.bsky.social · 04/10/2024
New blog post I cobbled together for the Bristol Reproducibility Network Ethical Academic Publishing: How to Make Academic Publishing Fairer, More Open and Less Wasteful openresearchbristol.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2024/09/23/e...
openresearchbristol.blogs.bristol.ac.uk
Ethical Academic Publishing: How to Make Academic Publishing Fairer, More Open and Less Wasteful – Open Research at Bristol
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Aarhus University's Religion, Cognition, and Culture Unit @rcc-au.bsky.social · 03/10/2024
RCC is happy to welcome @djsmith90.bsky.social to Aarhus! We're all looking forward to working with Dan over the next few years and excited to have him here!
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Dan Major-Smith @djsmith90.bsky.social · 23/09/2024
We all know that – alongside global warming, Elon Musk, Vladimir Putin and other evils – selection bias is one of the largest threats to humanity* But how bad exactly is selection bias? This is what we aimed to explore in our recent paper: doi.org/10.1080/2153... *Perhaps a slight exaggeration…
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