Sensing spirits and other dangerous beings : “Hardwired” intuitions, or cultural learning - or both?

NENADALOVÁ, Jana. Sensing spirits and other dangerous beings : “Hardwired” intuitions, or cultural learning - or both? In Cultural Evolution Society Conference 2021, online, Sapporo, 9-11 June 2021. 2021.

Základní údaje

• Originální název: Sensing spirits and other dangerous beings : “Hardwired” intuitions, or cultural learning - or both?
• Autoři: NENADALOVÁ, Jana.
• Vydání: Cultural Evolution Society Conference 2021, online, Sapporo, 9-11 June 2021, 2021.

Další údaje

• Originální jazyk: angličtina
• Typ výsledku: Prezentace na konferencích
• Obor: 60304 Religious studies
• Utajení: není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství
• WWW: URL
• Organizační jednotka: Filozofická fakulta
• Klíčová slova anglicky: Feeling of sensed presence; predictive processing; agency detection; predator fear; sociocultural learning
• Příznaky: Mezinárodní význam, Recenzováno

Anotace

In darkness and alone, humans fear various “unseen others” – ghosts, monsters, burglars, animals. Previously, I captured such intruder fear accompanied by the intuition of unseen humans’ presence: the “Unpleasant Feeling of Sensed Presence” (UFoP). Initially, Cognitive Science of Religion explained (supernatural) agents’ encounters through the (hyperactive) agency detection module. Following the current critique of cognitive modularity, I argue that it is more promising to think about agency detection in the context of the domain-general mechanism of cognition, the predictive processing. Predictive processing allows context-sensitive learning of respective predators relevant to different ecological and social settings without the need for agent-related fear’ innateness. However, I also argue that the basic fear of predators creeping in the shadows can be understood as a psychological adaptation, considered from Charles Darwin’s times. Therefore, I see ghosts and other scary agents as a product of two intertwined traits – genetically inherited prior schemata and socio-cultural learning, both equally manifesting in a psychological level of personal experience under the condition of uncertainty. In my paper, I will closely describe the presented theoretical argument and illustrate it empirically by the specific UFoP experience captured during my previous studies.

Návaznosti

• MUNI/IGA/1264/2020, interní kód MU: Název: Sensing the dark: Experimental research of sensory deprivation experience (SENSIO) (Akronym: SENSIO)

Investor: Masarykova univerzita, Sensing the dark: Experimental research of sensory deprivation experience (SENSIO)