Previous research with adults suggests that a catalog of minimally counterintuitive concepts, which underlies supernatural or religious concepts, may constitute a cognitive optimum and is therefore cognitively encoded and culturally transmitted more successfully than either entirely intuitive concepts or maximally counterintuitive concepts. This study examines whether children's concept recall ...

set Turner's ideas in their contemporary context, while the rather Whiggish separation of his various areas of interest militates against a proper understanding of his intellectual development. The book is particularly weak on medical history, of which its author virtually disavows any firsthand knowledge: even its account of Turner's religious and social ideas, however, is disappointingly pede...

The strength of the evidence supporting evolution has increased markedly since the discovery of DNA but, paradoxically, public resistance to accepting evolution seems to have become stronger. A key dilemma is that science faculty have often continued to teach evolution ineffectively, even as the evidence that traditional ways of teaching are inferior has become stronger and stronger. Three peda...

A mutation is often thought of in negative terms, that is, as a damaged or altered gene that can no longer fulfil its purpose as intended. However if we reverse our view and consider the whole as the vehicle that is incapable of fulfilling its purpose then the mutation becomes a new possibility. For the purposes of this paper, religion in its traditional sense will be considered as the „faulty ...

Although fertility declines have been documented in various parts of Africa, fertility rates remain high in Tanzania. Widespread resistance to modern contraception is one factor associated with high fertility in Tanzania. The aim of this study was to identify cultural barriers to modem contraceptive use in Matemwe village, Zanzibar. In May 2003, more than 50 in-depth interviews were conducted w...

This article seeks to contribute to a more adequate understanding of the adoption of modern audiovisual mass media by contemporary religious groups. It does so by examining Pentecostal-charismatic churches as well as the Christian mass culture instigated by its popularity, and so-called traditional religion in Ghana, which develop markedly different attitudes towards audiovisual mass media and ...

We present a theory of the creativity of dreams as well as psychopathology of religious delusions with respect to production of fundamental forms of religious cognition-specifically supernatural agent (SA) cognitions. We suggest that dream cognitions are particularly efficient at producing highly memorable and impactful experiences with SAs because dreams involve three processes that are prereq...

Representations of Green Tibetans connected to Buddhism and indigenous wisdom have been deployed by a variety of actors and persist in popular consciousness. Through interviews, participatory mapping and observation, we explored how these ideas relate to people's notions about the natural environment in a rural community on the Eastern Tibetan plateau, in Sichuan Province, China. We found peopl...

In the United States, lay-adults with a range of educational backgrounds often conceptualize species change within a non-Darwinian adaptationist framework, or reject such ideas altogether, opting instead for creationist accounts in which species are viewed as immutable. In this study, such findings were investigated further by examining the relationship between religious belief, scientific expe...

material not readily available elsewhere. Kiibin's personal knowledge makes this a very interesting account indeed. The work ends with a detailed bibliography and reference list and there is also an appendix which reproduces a number of important pictures and documents. The book is well illustrated throughout and contains many useful maps and tables. It is a valuable document, and should be con...