NENADALOVÁ, Jana. Sensing spirits and other dangerous beings : Why are ghosts inherent to every human culture? In 18th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions, Pisa, Italy, 30. 8. – 3. 9. 2021, 2021. 2021.
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Basic information
Original name Sensing spirits and other dangerous beings : Why are ghosts inherent to every human culture?
Authors NENADALOVÁ, Jana.
Edition 18th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions, Pisa, Italy, 30. 8. – 3. 9. 2021, 2021. 2021.
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Presentations at conferences
Field of Study 60304 Religious studies
Country of publisher Italy
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW URL
Organization unit Faculty of Arts
Keywords in English Agency detection; predictive processing ;unpleasant feeling of sensed presence - religious experience
Tags International impact, Reviewed
Changed by Changed by: Mgr. Ivona Vrzalová, učo 361753. Changed: 16/2/2022 15:50.
Abstract
Special anthropomorphic agents – commonly described as “supernatural” beings or entities – are considered anthropologically universal traits of human cultures. But why are they so culturally resilient, existing even in secularized societies? Can be the special agents’ resiliency grounded in their inherited cognitive origin, which needs to interact with cultural learning to create an ecologically relevant agent-related experience? For a long time, the cognitive science of religion overlooked the importance of culture’s influence on personal experiences with special agents. Thanks to the neurocognitive predictive processing theory, we can now better understand how culture can interact with inherited cognitive structures. Therefore, I want to look closer at one specific example of a special agent’s encounter experience – the unpleasant feeling of sensed presence (UFoP). On the example of UFoP, I will closely describe specific cognitive and sociocultural processes whose interaction probably creates the “unseen others” experience. Even though such experiences are often related to ghosts and spirits and grounded in religious beliefs, I want to show that they can appear independently in various sociocultural contexts. Therefore, belief in ghosts and spirits is unlikely to disappear even in secular societies.
Links
MUNI/IGA/1264/2020, interní kód MUName: Sensing the dark: Experimental research of sensory deprivation experience (SENSIO) (Acronym: SENSIO)
Investor: Masaryk University
PrintDisplayed: 14/9/2024 09:19