Beliefs in afterlife as a by-product of persistence judgments

George E. Newman; Sergey V. Blok; Lance J. Rips

doi:10.1017/S0140525X06429101

Beliefs in afterlife as a by-product of persistence judgments

George E. Newman^*, Sergey V. Blok, Lance J. Rips

^*Corresponding author for this work

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

We agree that supernatural beliefs are pervasive. However, we propose a more general account rooted in how people trace ordinary objects over time. Tracking identity involves attending to the causal history of an object, a process that may implicate hidden mechanisms. We discuss experiments in which participants exhibit the same "supernatural" beliefs when reasoning about the fates of cups and automobiles as those exhibited by Bering's participants when reasoning about spirits.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	480-481
Number of pages	2
Journal	Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Volume	29
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X06429101
State	Published - Dec 2006

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
Physiology
Behavioral Neuroscience

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10.1017/S0140525X06429101

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AU - Blok, Sergey V.

AU - Rips, Lance J.

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N2 - We agree that supernatural beliefs are pervasive. However, we propose a more general account rooted in how people trace ordinary objects over time. Tracking identity involves attending to the causal history of an object, a process that may implicate hidden mechanisms. We discuss experiments in which participants exhibit the same "supernatural" beliefs when reasoning about the fates of cups and automobiles as those exhibited by Bering's participants when reasoning about spirits.

AB - We agree that supernatural beliefs are pervasive. However, we propose a more general account rooted in how people trace ordinary objects over time. Tracking identity involves attending to the causal history of an object, a process that may implicate hidden mechanisms. We discuss experiments in which participants exhibit the same "supernatural" beliefs when reasoning about the fates of cups and automobiles as those exhibited by Bering's participants when reasoning about spirits.

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Beliefs in afterlife as a by-product of persistence judgments

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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