Press

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IQ, Big Bang, evolution on list of incomplete or outdated ideas scientists suggest are ready to be ‘retired’ – National Post, January 2014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