Abstract
Religious beliefs represent striking examples of culturally transmitted ideas that guide individual metacognition. This chapter examines how religious practices facilitate the adoption of such beliefs. Beginning with the two simple assumptions that effective metacognition requires (1) considerable attentional and executive resources and (2) access to interpretive frameworks, it is noted that these vary across contexts. Many characteristic features of religious practices appear to limit the cognitive resources required for individual metacognition. It is proposed that such features may in fact be designed to facilitate the adoption of a shared metacognition. Using a predictive coding framework, two pathways for this process are analyzed: depletion and deprivation. Finally, the philosophical implications for social functional accounts of shared metacognition are discussed in light of human evolution.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Metacognitive Diversity : An Interdisciplinary Approach |
| Editors | Joëlle Proust, Martin Fortier |
| Number of pages | 24 |
| Place of publication | Oxford |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Publication date | 1 May 2018 |
| Edition | 1 |
| Pages | 319-342 |
| Chapter | 15 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-0-19-878971-0, 0198789718 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780198789710 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 May 2018 |
Keywords
- Cognitive resource depletion
- Metacognition
- Predictive coding
- Religion
- Rituals
- Sensory deprivation