Examining Special Patient Rituals in a Chinese Cultural Context: A Research Report
In: Journal of Cognition and CultureFuller Graduate School of Psychology 180 N. Oakland, Pasadena, ca 91101 USA
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Is reasoning about religious ritual tethered to ordinary, nonreligious human reasoning about actions? E. Thomas Lawson and Robert N. McCauley’s ritual form hypothesis (rfh) constitutes a cognitive approach to religious ritual – an explanatory theory that suggests people use ordinary human cognition to make specific predictions about ritual properties, relatively independent of cultural or religious particulars. Few studies assess the credibility of rfh and further evidence is needed to generalize its predictions across cultures. Towards this end, we assessed culturally Chinese “special patient” rituals in Singapore. Our findings strongly support rfh predictions for special patient ritual repeatability, reversibility, sensory pageantry and emotionality.
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Examining Special Patient Rituals in a Chinese Cultural Context: A Research Report
In: Journal of Cognition and CultureFuller Graduate School of Psychology 180 N. Oakland, Pasadena, ca 91101 USA
Search for other papers by Ryan G. Hornbeck in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Brianna Bentley in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Justin L. Barrett in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Is reasoning about religious ritual tethered to ordinary, nonreligious human reasoning about actions? E. Thomas Lawson and Robert N. McCauley’s ritual form hypothesis (rfh) constitutes a cognitive approach to religious ritual – an explanatory theory that suggests people use ordinary human cognition to make specific predictions about ritual properties, relatively independent of cultural or religious particulars. Few studies assess the credibility of rfh and further evidence is needed to generalize its predictions across cultures. Towards this end, we assessed culturally Chinese “special patient” rituals in Singapore. Our findings strongly support rfh predictions for special patient ritual repeatability, reversibility, sensory pageantry and emotionality.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 353 | 75 | 11 |
| Full Text Views | 193 | 2 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 17 | 4 | 0 |