Chapter
The action representation system
A technical sense of “religious ritual”
Properties and qualities of ritual elements
Agency, CPS-agents, and counter-intuitive properties
A cognitive account of various properties of religious rituals
The action representation system and the well-formedness and effectiveness of religious rituals
The PSA’s distinction between kinds of ritual profiles and three ritual properties
The PSI’s account of the initial entry for a CPS-agent and (comparative) ritual centrality
2 Ritual and memory: frequency and flashbulbs
The cognitive foundations of cultural transmission
Sperber’s epidemiological approach
Dynamical properties of religious ritual systems: two attractors
Frequency effects and memory for cultural materials: psychological findings
Flashbulb memory and enhanced recall for actions
Social constraints on the generation of cultural representations
The fragility of knowledge among the Mountain Ok: analogic coding
Social influences on the (re)production of Ok rituals
Memory for ritual among the Baktaman
Factors contributing to ritual stability
The cognitive alarm hypothesis and Baktaman initiations
An analytical summary: preparing to move from memory dynamics to ritual patterns
3 Two hypotheses concerning religious ritual and emotional stimulation
Sensory pageantry, codification, and the ritual frequency hypothesis
The ritual frequency hypothesis
Connecting sensory pageantry and emotional arousal with religious ritual form
Religious ritual and motivation
The typology of religious rituals revisited
The ritual form hypothesis
4 Assessing the two hypotheses
Performance frequencies, performance rates, and theoretical depth
Developing a criterion of relevance for ritual performances: opportunities to observe
Developing a criterion of relevance for ritual performances: participation
A more complex approach to the frequency hypothesis
A brief interlude: reversing a ritual’s consequences
The least direct connections criterion
The problem of measuring rituals’ performance frequencies
Why any version of the ritual frequency hypothesis must presuppose the underlying theoretical principles of the theory…
Empirical evidence: problems of stability and uniformity in the modes of religiosity
Solutions to the problems
Empirical evidence: infrequently performed, even-numbered, special patient rituals
The four cells of figure 4.3
Illustrations of religious rituals that fall into cell II
On the possibility of frequently performed, odd-numbered, special agent rituals
Two possibilities for breaking through the conceptual roadblock
The evolution of the splinter group’s ritual system
Breaking through the conceptual roadblock
Empirical evidence: frequently performed, odd-numbered special agent rituals
Clarifying the proper time period for comparing the two hypotheses
The evolution of the special agent version of the ring ceremony during the splinter group period
Comparing the sensory pageantry associated with special agent as opposed to special patient rituals during the splinter…
5 General profiles of religious ritual systems: the emerging cognitive science of religion
Trends in ritual innovation
The problem of explaining the levels of sensory pageantry associated with the splinter group’s performances of Pomio Kivung
Psychological constraints on religious ritual systems and the emerging prominence of special agent rituals
One sort of unbalanced religious ritual system
Instabilities in some religious ritual systems
The phase portrait of splinter group cycles in Dadul
Widespread but short-lived patterns and the profile of one sort of unbalanced religious ritual system
Balanced religious ritual systems
The varieties of religious splinterings
Conceptual control, new religions, and the replication of the balanced pattern
How tedium may arise in balanced ritual systems
Transmission, fitness, and religious ritual systems
1 COGNITIVE CONSTRAINTS ON RELIGIOUS RITUAL FORM: A THEORY OF PARTICIPANTS’ COMPETENCE WITH RELIGIOUS RITUAL SYSTEMS
2 RITUAL AND MEMORY: FREQUENCY AND FLASHBULBS
3 TWO HYPOTHESES CONCERNING RELIGIOUS RITUAL AND EMOTIONAL STIMULATION
4 ASSESSING THE TWO HYPOTHESES
5 GENERAL PROFILES OF RELIGIOUS RITUAL SYSTEMS: THE EMERGING COGNITIVE SCIENCE OF RELIGION
Bringing Ritual to Mind
：Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms
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