2018
Bringing Big Data to Religious History – UBC Faculty of Arts News, September 2018
Religie overleeft, want het helpt ons overleven – Vrij Nederland, May 2018
2017
Massive online course from UBC investigates religion from a cognitive science perspective – The Ubyssey, September 2017
Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment, and the expansion of human sociality
2015
Merry Christmakwanzika! – UBC News, December 2015
Which Comes First, Big Cities or Big Gods? – Nautilus, October 2015
Turning history into a binary code – Science, August 2015
Why big societies need big gods – Science, August 2015
Inside the mind of God – Aeon, March 2015
Complex societies evolved without belief in all-powerful deity – Nature, March 2015
To foster complex societies, tell people a god is watching – Science, March 2015
2014
Will religion ever disappear – BBC, December 2014
Wealth may have driven the rise of today’s religions – Science, December 2014
Pain Really Does Make Us Gain – The New Yorker, December 2014
Trial by fire – Aeon, September 2014
Do Anthropologists Consider the Ice Bucket Challenge an ‘Extreme Ritual’? – Vice, October 2014
Decoding a world of religion – UC Observer, April 2014
Interview with Dr. Edward Slingerland – Religio Magazine, April 2014
To avoid stereotyping, forget being ‘colour blind’ – Vancouver Sun, March 2014
Kiss me, I’m an atheist – Al Jazeera, January 2014
IQ, Big Bang, evolution on list of incomplete or outdated ideas scientists suggest are ready to be ‘retired’ – National Post, January 2014
2014: What scientific idea is ready for retirement? – Edge.org, January 2014
2013
The Future of the Christian Church – The Terry Project, December 2013
Big Gods book club – International Cognition & Culture Institute, December 2013
Religion & Why Humans Cooperate – BBC’s “The Forum”, December 2013
Reasons Why It’s Easier for Humans to Believe in God Than Evolution – Mother Jones, November 2013
Horrors of war harden group alliances – UBC News, November 2013
Mormons And WEIRDos: How Psychological Science Gets Fundamentally Skewed – International Business Times, November 2013
War strengthens bonds among children and adolescents, leads to nation-building – UPI, November 2013
If Big Brother Is Not Around, We Invent Him – the Wall Street Journal, October 2013
Does religion make us better? – University Affairs, November 2013
Extreme rituals enhance social cohesion – ScienceNordic, October 2013
Smertefulde ritualer styrker fællesskabet – Videnskab DK, October 2013
Brændende gløder og korsfæstelser styrker fællesskaber – BK, October 2013
No need for gods any more – New Scientist, September 2013
Digging Into Religion – UBC Annual Report, 2013
Only the biggest God builds a civilization: Author posits religion is essential building block of society – National Post, August 2013
Big Gods: How religion transformed cooperation and conflict – UBC News, September 2013
Why Do People Engage in Extreme Rituals? – Psychology Today, September 2013
The Ritual Species – Psychology Today, August 2013
Religious setting, not belief, makes you good – Science on Religion, July 2013
Religion: is it always tribal? – Patheos, July 2013
Why Would Performing an Extreme Religious Ritual Make People More Generous and Prosocial? – Science + Religion Today, July 2013
Joseph Henrich on Skeptically Speaking – Science for the People, July 2013
Extreme rituals promote prosociality – Patheos, June 2013
Painful and extreme rituals enhance social cohesion and charity – PsyPost, June 2013
Psychology is WEIRD – Slate, May 2013
Economistas vs. antropólogos: ¿quiénes son los tipos más raros del mundo? – La Nacion, March 2013
We Aren’t the World – Pacific Standard, February 2013
The Evolution Of Religion And Morality: Researchers Explore Cultural Evolutionary Roots Of Religion – The Manitoban, February 2013
Social evolution: The ritual animal – Nature, January 2013
In Mauritius, religious locations increase generosity – Epiphenom, January 2013
What Does the “Cultural Evolution of Religion Research Consortium” Hope to Accomplish – Science + Religion Today, January 2013
Smart atheist heads $3-million grant into religion and morality – Vancouver Sun, January 2013
2012
The Invention of Lying – Der Spiegel, December 2012
Research team looking to prove controversial theory that religion was the ‘cornerstone to civilizations’ – National Post, December 2012
Human rites – Aeon, December 2012
From human sacrifice to Santa Claus: the cultural evolution of religious beliefs – UBC News, December 2012
Rituals: The power of pain – lexpress.mu, October 2012
The role of religion in the current unrest in the Middle East – CBC, September 2012
UBC gains $3.8 million for major studies on religion, security, trade – UBC News, May 2012
How Culture Drove Human Evolution – Edge.org, September 2012
God and the Ivory Tower – Foreign Policy, August 2012
I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do – Time, August 2012
Autism study strengthens idea that we read God’s mind – New Scientist, May 2012
The roar of the crowd – The Economist, May 2012
Thinking can undermine religious faith, study finds – Los Angeles Times, April 2012
Study: Analytic thinking can decrease religious belief – CNN, April 2012
Losing Your Religion? Analytic Thinking Weakens Religious Belief – Time, April 2012
The God issue: Religioin is the key to civilisation – New Scientist, March 2012
Is Polygamy Really So Awful? – Slate, January 2012
Prehistoric human social networks much like our own, study finds – National Post, January 2012
Tanzania’s Hadza group sheds light on ancient social networks – Los Angeles Times, January 2012
More rape and violence among polygamists: Study – Toronto Sun, January 2012
2011
Why we’re the weirdest people in the world – The Star, March 2011
Weird Science – Foreign Policy, January 2011
2010 & Earlier
A reason to believe – Amercican Psychological Association, December 2010
How weird are you? Oddball minds of the western world – New Scientist, November 2010
Why Some Islanders Build Better Crab Traps – The Wall Street Journal, October 2010
Psychology Studies Biased toward Western Undergrads – Scientific American, August 2010
Two Routes to Social Status – Psychology Today, August 2010
The Trouble with Using Undergrads for Research – Newsweek, July 2010
A WEIRD View of Human Nature Skews Psychologists’ Studies – Science, June 2010
The university student as a model organism – Nature Neuroscience, May 2010
Fairness with Strangers May Be the Invention of Large Societies – Scientific American, March 2010
Are Shoppers Fairer? – The New York Times, March 2010
Adoption or migration? – Nature, March 2010
The origins of selflessness – The Economist, March 2010
Fairness is socially-learned, not inate – USA Today, March 2010
Evolution of Fairness Driven by Culture, not Genes – Wired, March 2010
Why we trust people we don’t know – NBC News, March 2010
Farming’s rise cultivated fair deals – Science News, March 2010
Justice, medieval style – Boston Globe, January 2010
Five emotions you never knew you had – New Scientist, January 2010
On the Origin of Religion – Science, November 2009
Satan, the great motivator – Boston Globe, November 2009
How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect – The New York Times, October 2009
Religions owe their success to suffering martyrs – New Scientist, May 2009
Human nature – The remix – Nature, February 2009
Top UBC psychologist uncovers roots of religion – and himself – Vancouver Sun, November 2008
Arguing for Embodied Consciousness – Science, October 2008
Proud is Proud, Sighted or Not, Researchers Find – The New York Times, September 2008
The God Effect – The New York Times, December 2007