Who Wants to Live Forever?

Around 30% of world cultures endorse reincarnation and 20% of contemporary Americans think that reincarnation is plausible. This paper addresses the question of why belief in reincarnation is so pervasive across geographically disparate contexts. While social scientists have provided compelling expl...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: White, Claire (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
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Veröffentlicht: Brill 2017
In: Journal of cognition and culture
Jahr: 2017, Band: 17, Heft: 5, Seiten: 419-436
weitere Schlagwörter:B Reincarnation cognitive science of religion social cognition the afterlife
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Zusammenfassung:Around 30% of world cultures endorse reincarnation and 20% of contemporary Americans think that reincarnation is plausible. This paper addresses the question of why belief in reincarnation is so pervasive across geographically disparate contexts. While social scientists have provided compelling explanations of the particularistic aspects of reincarnation, less is known about the psychological foundations of such beliefs. In this paper, I review research in the cognitive science of religion to propose that selected panhuman cognitive tendencies contribute to the cross-cultural success of basic ideas in reincarnation. Together, this research suggests that extraordinary convictions, including those associated with postmortem survival, are underpinned by some of the same processes that govern mundane social cognition.
ISSN:1568-5373
Enthält:In: Journal of cognition and culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685373-12340016