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Many researchers in the psychological and behavioral sciences use crowd-sourcing platforms to collect data, and yet many such researchers are ignorant of the participant-experience. In this paper we summarize our experience in participating in many hundreds of such research tasks. We present a list of common practical and ethical short-comings perpetrated by researchers, as well as a corresponding list of suggestions for designing research that facilitates quality data, maintains ethical standards, and improves the quality-of-life of participants. Importantly, this paper includes considerable feedback and guidance from the click-worker community. While much research executed on crowd-sorcing platforms is generally fine, it is the case that almost all research can be improved by adopting a subset of the recommendations herein. If you believe these recommendations are not relevant to you, then you are exactly the people we wish to reach.

The study of imaginative play has historically been limited to children, however recent research suggests that adults engage in pretend play far more than previously considered. Though the manner in which adults engage in such play is notably different from children, and has been termed “Pretensive Shared Reality” (PSR). A central question regarding PSR is that of the degree to which the ‘cognitive quarantine’ (Nichols and Stich, 2000) is permeable. We examine the degree of permeability between real and fictive identities, and establish a novel ‘cognitive porousness’ scale. We also established the degree to which theoretically relevant factors, such as enjoyment and engagement, influence porousness. We report that there is a notable degree of cognitive porousness between players' personal identities and their characters’ identity when players responded, via their character, to fantasy-theme moral dilemmas. Furthermore, we found that engagement influenced the degree of permeation while enjoyment appeared to have no impact. This research demonstrates the tractability of examining adult pretence from a quantitative and cognitive perspective.

Imaginative pretend play is often thought of as the domain of young children, yet adults regularly engage in elaborated, fantastical, social-mediated pretend play. We draw on multiple examples, but focus on Table-Top Role Playing games (TTRPG) - and specifically, the most popular and enduring table-top role-playing games, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) - as a primary example of such play. We describe imaginative play in adults via the term ‘pretensive shared reality'; Shared Pretensive Reality describes the ability of a group of individuals to employ a range of higher-order cognitive functions to explicitly and implicitly share representations of a bounded fictional reality in predictable and coherent ways, such that this constructed reality may be explored and invented/embellished with shared intentionality in an ad hoc manner. Pretensive Shared Reality facilitates multiple individual and social outcomes, including generating personal and group-level enjoyment or mirth, the creation or maintenance of social groups, or the safe exploration of individual self concepts (such as alternative expression of a players sexual or gender identity). Importantly, Pretensive Shared Reality (both within the specific context of table-top role-playing games, and other instances) are primarily co-operative and co-creative. Our conception links the widespread existence and forms of adult imaginative play to childhood pretense, places it within a developmental and evolutionary context, and argues that pretensive shared realities - which underpin many forms of imaginative culture - are an important topic of study unto themselves, and may be utilized to provide methodological insight into a variety of psychological domains.

Identity fusion – a visceral feeling of oneness with a group – is thought to result from the sharing of emotional, often dysphoric, experiences. In this pre-registered longitudinal study, we address the impact of flashbulb memories of learning about the outcome of the Brexit referendum on both identity fusion and social identification. As predicted, the visceral quality of people’s flashbulb memories had a transformative effect on personal identity via processes of personal reflection and this, in turn, led to identity fusion via perceived sharedness with the group. Sharing personally transformative memories in this way did not lead to social identification, suggesting that perceived sharedness is key to identity fusion but not to social identification. Understanding how emotional public events impact personal identities and how they produce peculiar forms of group alignment have important implications for explaining and managing societal threats such as polarization and forms of political and religious extremism.

Preferences for pink and blue were tested in children aged 4–11 years in three small-scale societies: Shipibo villages in the Peruvian Amazon, kastom villages in the highlands of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, and BaYaka foragers in the northern Republic of Congo; and compared to children from an Australian global city (total N = 232). No sex differences were found in preference for pink in any of the three societies not influenced by global culture (ds − 0.31–0.23), in contrast to a female preference for pink in the global city (d = 1.24). Results suggest that the pairing of female and pink is a cultural phenomenon and is not driven by an essential preference for pink in girls.

James Cresswell, Culture and the Cognitive Science of Religion

Rituals are able to transform ordinary objects into extraordinary objects. And while rituals typically do not cause physical changes, they may imbue objects with a particular specialness – a simple gold band may become a wedding ring, while an ordinary dessert may become a birthday cake. To treat such objects as if they were ordinary then becomes inappropriate. How does this transformation take place in the minds of observers, and how do we recognize it when we see it? Here, we suggest that two under-examined elements of ritual need deeper consideration within the context of ritual cognition. We propose a fully integrated operational definition in which these two critical ritual elements – causal opacity and goal demotion – are included. In a pre-registered experiment one-hundred and one adults, in a 2 × 2 mixed-within participants design observed actions performed upon profane objects. These actions were either ordinary (causally transparent and goal apparent) or ritualized (causally opaque and goal demoted), and were described as a blessing, a curse, or were not described at all. Contrary to established findings and pre-registered predictions, we found that ritualized actions alone are not enough to influence perceptions of, and attributions towards, objects, and that positive goal information (blessings) are more behaviorally persuasive than negative information. However, we found that participants recalled ritualized action in greater detail and with more specificity than ordinary actions. In effect, we demonstrate that causal opacity and goal information interact to allow us to recognize a ritual as a ritual.

Adopting newly proposed “open science” reforms to improve transparency and increase rigor is hard and can make us, as researchers, feel vulnerable. Nonetheless, these reforms are vital to improving the overall quality and confidence of our collective research. We have, through our own experiences, found that preregistration and detailed analysis plans can help to identify, and potentially avoid, errors. Prepublication has similarly helped us to collaborate and receive feedback on manuscripts, particularly during prolonged periods of peer-review. The Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) field is constituted by a diversity of scholars and disciplines, and thus faces somewhat unique challenges in its efforts to establish common practices, standards, and research terminology. In this paper we offer an introduction to the open science reforms of preregistration and prepublication specifically orientated towards the CSR field. We discuss common concerns around these practices, highlighting areas of misunderstanding while conceding and discussing genuine limitations. We conclude with voluntary, low-investment recommendations for best-practices with regards to preregistration and preprints for the field of the Cognitive Science of Religion.

There is a large, if disparate, body of archaeological literature discussing specific instantiations of symbolic material culture and the possibility of ritual practices in Neanderthal populations. Despite this attention, however, no single synthesis exists that draws upon cognitive, psychological and cultural evolutionary theories of ritual. Here, we review the evidence for ritual-practice among now-extinct Homo neanderthalensis , as well as the necessary cognitive pre-conditions for such behaviour, in order to explore the evolution of ritual in Homo sapiens . We suggest that the currently available archaeological evidence indicates that Neanderthals may have used ‘ritualization’ to increase the successful transmission of technical knowledge across generations—providing an explanation for the technological stability of the Middle Palaeolithic and attesting to a survival strategy differing from near-contemporary H. sapiens . This article is part of the theme issue ‘Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours’.

Rituals are a ubiquitous feature of human behavior, yet we know little about the cognitive mechanisms that enable children to recognize them and respond accordingly. In this study, 3 to 6 year old children living in Bushman communities in South Africa were shown a sequence of causally irrelevant actions that differed in the extent to which goal demotion was a feature. The children consistently replicated the causally irrelevant actions but when such actions were also fully goal demoted they were reproduced at significantly higher rates. These findings highlight how causal opacity and goal demotion work in tandem to demarcate actions as being ritualistic, and specifically, how goal demotion uniquely influences the reproduction of ritualistic actions.

Many diverse species yawn, suggesting ancient evolutionary roots. While yawning is widespread, the observation of contagious yawning is most often limited to apes and other mammals with sophisticated social cognition. This has led to speculation on the adaptive value of contagious yawning. Among this speculation are empirical and methodological assumptions demanding re-examination. In this paper we demonstrate that if yawns are not contagious, they may still appear to be so by way of a perceptual pattern-recognition error. Under a variety of conditions (including the assumption that yawns are contagious) we quantify (via models) the extent to which the empirical literature commits Type-1 error (i.e., incorrectly calling a spontaneous yawn ‘contagious’). We report the results of a pre-registered behavioural experiment to validate our model and support our criticisms. Finally, we quantify – based on a synthesis of behavioural and simulated data – how ‘contagious’ a yawn is by describing the size of the influence a ‘trigger’ yawn has on the likelihood of a consequent yawn. We conclude by raising a number of empirical and methodological concerns that aid in resolving higher-order questions regarding the nature of contagious yawning, and make public our model to help aid further study and understanding.

Indonesia is the most populous Islamic country and as such is host to a diverse range of Islamic beliefs and practices. Here we examine how the diversity of beliefs and practices among Indonesian Muslims relates to group bonding and parochialism. In particular, we examine the predictive power of two distinct types of group alignment, group identification and identity fusion, among individuals from three Sunni politico-religious groups - a fundamentalist group (PKS), a moderate group (NU), and a control sample of politically unaffiliated citizens. Fundamentalists were more fused to targets than moderates or citizens, but contrary to fusion theory, we found across all groups, that group identification (not fusion) better predicted parochialism, including willingness to carry out extreme pro-group actions. We discuss how religious beliefs and practice impact parochial attitudes, as well as the implications for theoretical models linking fusion to extreme behaviour.

In the present experiment children aged 4 and 6 years (N = 112) were read a story describing a novel supernatural agent called The Friendly Professor, who had magical powers of omniscience for behavior of those ‘in his room’ while doing ‘his experiments’. Half of the children were led to believe that this story was real, while half were told the story was fictional. Children responded to two tasks, either with a researcher present in the room, or while alone in the room. Experiment 1 comprised a two-phase overimitation task: children twice observed a series of actions on a puzzlebox modelled only at T1, then they acted on the box both immediately (T1) and again after 30-minutes (T2). Rates of overimitation did not significantly decrease over time, and overimitation was not predicted by belief/non-belief, nor by the presence/absence of the researcher. In Experiment 2 children were instructed on the rules of a ball-throwing task in which cheating was implicitly incentivized. Children were not more likely to cheat in any condition. These findings highlight the pervasiveness and persistence of overimitation, and demonstrate children’s consideration of social pressure when provided the opportunity to cheat, but not a sensitivity to the presence of supernatural figures. Our results suggest that generating supernatural belief in children - and assessing that belief - calls for more careful attention to the existing literature on children's developing understanding of special minds.

Rituals tend to be both causally opaque and goal demoted, yet these two qualities are rarely dissociated in the literature. Here we manipulate both factors and demonstrate their unique influence on ritual cognition. In a 2 × 3 (action type x goal information) between subjects design 484 US adults viewed causally opaque (ritual) or causally transparent (ordinary) actions performed on identical objects. They were provided with no goal information, positive goal information (“Blessing”) or negative goal information (“Cursing”). Neither causal opacity nor goal information influenced perceptions of physical change/causation. In contrast, causal opacity increased attributions of “specialness,” whereas goal information did not. Finally, goal information interacted with action type on measures of preference, such that ordinary actions are influenced by both “blessings” and “curses,” but ritual actions are only influenced by “curses.” These findings are interpreted in light of the Ritual Stance, and the co...

Ritualized actions are common in daily life, and prevalent across cultures. Adults have been shown, under experimental conditions, to treat objects subjected to ritualized action as special and different relative to objects subjected to non-ritualized action. Similarly, children as young as 4, are sensitive to ritualized actions – frequently reproducing such actions at high fidelity. The current cross-cultural experiment attempts to extend existing findings among two culturally distinct groups of children with regard to object-directed rituals. We predicted that children’s preference for a reward would be influenced by ritualized action (but not non-ritualized action). Over two trials we presented children in Australia (N = 93; mean age = 6.03 years, SD = 2.07 years) and Vanuatu (N = 109; mean age = 6.13 years, SD = 1.96 years) with two identical rewards, which was either subjected to ritualized action or non-ritualized action. Contrary to previous findings among adults, ritualized action did not influence children’s preference for a reward. We frame the current results in the context of socially relevant group rituals, and discuss the implications for both wider theory and methods. We conclude with a call for pre-registered replications.

Humans have created and maintained an exponentially large and sophisticated behavioral corpus over evolutionary time. In no small part this was achieved due to our tendency to imitate behaviours rather than to emulate outcomes. This tendency, however, can lead to inefficiency and redundancy in our behavioral repertoires. Drawing on evidence from multiple fields of psychology, we propose two novel competing hypotheses. The ‘catalyst hypothesis’ suggests that low (but not high) proportions of ritualized gesture in instrumental action sequences will improve subsequent recall of the entire action sequence (without itself enhancing the instrumental utility of the sequence). Conversely, the ‘cost hypothesis’ suggests that increasing proportions of ritualized gesture will impair recall, due to the introduction of cognitive load. The null hypothesis states that ritualized gestures are neither beneficial nor costly. In a pre-registered experiment, we presented participants with multiple versions of two complicated 2-min action sequences in which we varied the proportion of ritualized gesture. We then quantified the influence ritualized gesture had on recall for individuals gestures, overall outcomes, and described detail. We found clear evidence that high proportions of ritualized gestures impair recall for individual gestures and overall success, and weak evidence that low proportions increase overall success. At present, we may reject the null, but cannot rule out either of our competing hypotheses. We discuss potential implications for cultural evolution, and generate competing predictions that allow for adjudication between Ritual Modes theory (Whitehouse, 2004) and the ‘Cognitive Resource Depletion’ account of Religious Interaction (Schjoedt et al., 2013). All files (including data and syntax) are freely available at https://osf.io/spz68/ .

We question the privileged role of trance within the framework presented. The features that Singh suggests make it unique are not well demarcated from those of rituals more generally, and we challenge the depth of explanation presented for the mechanisms of trance. We outline the form of a solution, which may facilitate increased operational utility for the presented framework.

Children will comprehensively copy others' actions despite manifest perceptual cues to their causal ineffectiveness. In experiment 1 we demonstrate that children will overimitate in this way even when the arbitrary actions copied are used as part of a process to achieve an outcome for someone else. We subsequently show in experiment 2 that children will omit arbitrary actions, but only if the actions are to achieve a clear, functional goal for a naive adult. These findings highlight how readily children adopt what appear to be conventional behaviors, even when faced with a clear demonstration of their negligible functional value. We show how a child's strong, early-emerging propensity for overimitation reveals a sensitivity for ritualistic behavior.

The following dissertation is an in-depth examination of the cognition and behaviour associated with ritualized action. Within the Cognitive Science of Religion (CSR) framework considerable resources have been devoted to understanding how rituals influence the way groups form, and how they influence the behaviour of individuals with respect to in- and out-group members (though other dimensions of ritual-related topics are discussed hereafter). However, as evinced by the publication record, very little effort has been devoted to understanding how we cognitively and behaviourally respond when rituals are directed towards objects and artefacts. That this question has been overlooked is not a trivial academic matter. Rituals are ubiquitous across cultures, and while the vast majority of rituals are performed for the benefit of an individual or a group, a vast subset therein are performed toward objects, and thereby influence the way in which we interact with them. Wedding bands, birthday cakes, flags, holy water, and entire buildings (to name but a few) are all made unique via ritual action. What is it about such actions that bestow upon objects their status? Why and how does this come about? And can it be explained through wholly ordinary cognitive mechanisms? In my introduction I outline the most relevant theories, which both inform and challenge our nascent understanding of object-directed rituals. I make suggestions as to which theories have the most promise in examining these questions. Further, I attempt to provide a theoretical and operational definition which is not merely a descriptive constellation of general features, but a definition which proposes a causal pathway of action. In so doing, I elevate the role of ‘causal opacity’ and ‘goal demotion’ to greater prominence (above featural qualities like repetition, redundancy, formality, and stereotypy). The following chapters sequentially present evidence for this definition, as well as exploring other important cognitive aspects associated with ritual cognition. In chapter two I establish a robust protocol for examining the manner in which ritualized actions influence our cognitions. I challenge the methods and conclusions of prior work that has examined the role objects and artefacts play in ritual sequences. I examine predications made by the ‘ritual stance’, a theoretical framework for explaining ritual cognition, and find support for a nuanced picture of ritual cognition when ritualized actions are directed toward objects. In chapter three I extend the findings of chapter two, and more clearly demarcate the unique role of goal demotion. I find support for the claim that causal opacity and goal demotion are RITUAL COGNITION 3 separable, and account for different kinds of responses among participants. Further, I examine the ways our memory (and by extension, our perception) is influenced by ritualized action. In chapter four I examine all previous findings in more ecologically valid settings. I examine the behaviour of children (in two distinct and orthogonal cultures) and adults. Here I find a distinct lack of support for predictions associated with the ritual stance, which represents a meaningful challenge to the validity of prior findings. However, I do find additional support for the position (established in chapter three) that ritualized actions are recalled/perceived differently from ordinary actions. The results of these five experiments are discussed, and I attempt to reconcile these findings in a manner that can help direct future questions associated with object-directed rituals. While the results of these experiments were not strictly as hypothesized, they do provide an important definitional, theoretical, and operation foundation for future work on a topic that is otherwise under-researched.

Previous research has demonstrated an efficiency bias in social learning whereby young children preferentially imitate the functional actions of a successful individual over an unsuccessful group member. Our aim in the current research was to examine whether this bias remains when actions are presented as conventional rather than instrumental. Preschool children watched videos of an individual and a group member. The individual always demonstrated a successful instrumental action and the group member an unsuccessful action that was either causally transparent or opaque. Highlighting the selective nature of social learning, children copied the group at higher rates when the demonstrated actions were causally opaque than when they were causally transparent. This research draws attention to the influence of conventional/ritual-like actions on young children's learning choices and emphasizes the role of this orientation in the development of human-specific cumulative culture.

Rituals are a pervasive and ubiquitous aspect of human culture, but when we naively observe an opaque set of ritual actions, how do we come to understand its significance? To investigate this, across two experiments we manipulated the degree to which actions were ritualistic or ordinary, and whether or not they were accompanied with context. In Experiment 1, 474 adult participants were presented with videos of novel rituals (causally opaque actions) or control actions (causally transparent) performed on a set of objects accompanied with neutral-valance written context. Experiment 2 presented the same video stimuli but with negative and aversive written context. In both experiments ritualized objects were rated as physically unchanged, but more 'special' and more 'desirable' than objects subjected to control actions, with context amplifying this effect. Results are discussed with reference to the Ritual Stance and the Social-Action hypothesis. Implications for both theories are discussed, as are methodological concerns regarding the empirical investigation of ritual cognition. We argue that causally opaque ritual actions guide the behavior of naive viewers because such actions are perceived as socially normative, rather than with reference to supernatural intervention or causation.