The Memorability of Supernatural Concepts: Effects of Minimal Counterintuitiveness, Moral Valence, and Existential Anxiety on Recall

IF 1.7 2区哲学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

International Journal for the Psychology of Religion Pub Date : 2020-04-20 DOI:10.31234/osf.io/qdh8y

J. Beebe, Leigh Duffy

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引用次数: 3

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within the cognitive science of religion, some scholars hypothesize (1) that minimally counterintuitive (MCI) concepts enjoy a transmission advantage over both intuitive and highly counterintuitive concepts, (2) that religions concern counterintuitive agents, objects, or events, and (3) that the transmission advantage of MCI concepts makes them more likely to be found in the world’s religions than other kinds of concepts. We hypothesized that the memorability of many MCI supernatural concepts was due in large part to other characteristics they possess, such as their frequent and salient association with moral concerns and the alleviation of existential anxieties, and that without such characteristics they would fail to be memorable. We report the results of three experiments designed to test the relative contributions of minimal counterintuitiveness, moral valence, and existential anxiety to the memorability of supernatural ideas. We observed no main effects for minimal counterintuitiveness but did observe main effects for both moral valence and existential anxiety. We also found that these effects did not seem to stem from the greater visualizability of morally valenced concepts or concepts that concerned existential anxieties. These findings challenge important claims made by leading researchers regarding MCI concepts within the cognitive science of religion.

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超自然概念的记忆:最小反直觉性、道德效价和存在焦虑对回忆的影响

在宗教认知科学中，一些学者假设(1)最小反直觉(MCI)概念比直觉和高度反直觉的概念都具有传递优势;(2)宗教涉及反直觉的行为者、对象或事件;(3)MCI概念的传递优势使它们比其他类型的概念更容易在世界宗教中被发现。我们假设，许多MCI超自然概念的可记忆性在很大程度上是由于它们拥有的其他特征，例如它们与道德关注和存在焦虑的频繁和显著联系，如果没有这些特征，它们就不会被记住。我们报告了三个实验的结果，旨在测试最小反直觉性、道德效价和存在焦虑对超自然观念记忆的相对贡献。我们没有观察到最小反直觉性的主要影响，但确实观察到道德效价和存在焦虑的主要影响。我们还发现，这些影响似乎并非源于道德价值概念或与存在焦虑有关的概念的更大可视化。这些发现挑战了主要研究人员在宗教认知科学中关于MCI概念的重要主张。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Journal for the Psychology of Religion Multiple-

CiteScore

4.20

自引率

4.50%

发文量

期刊介绍： The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion (IJPR) is devoted to psychological studies of religious processes and phenomena in all religious traditions. This journal provides a means for sustained discussion of psychologically relevant issues that can be examined empirically and concern religion in the most general sense. It presents articles covering a variety of important topics, such as the social psychology of religion, religious development, conversion, religious experience, religion and social attitudes and behavior, religion and mental health, and psychoanalytic and other theoretical interpretations of religion. The journal publishes research reports, brief research reports, commentaries on relevant topical issues, book reviews, and statements addressing articles published in previous issues. The journal may also include a major essay and commentaries, perspective papers of the theory, and articles on the psychology of religion in a specific country.