Behavioral and Brain Sciences



Short Communication

Locating the causes of religious commitment


Harvey Whitehouse a1
a1 School of Anthropological Studies, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom h.whitehouse@qub.ac.uk http:www.qub.ac.uk/icc/ http://www.qub.ac.uk/fhum/banp

Abstract

Atran & Norenzayan (A&N) survey a substantial body of theory and evidence on which there is broad agreement in the cognitive science of religion. Some parts of their argument (for instance, concerning the causes of costly commitment to religious beliefs) are more speculative and remain a focus of lively debate and further research.