CMAC’s Modeling Religion Project generates insights into religious social dynamics using computational modeling and simulation.
We recently interviewed CMAC alum Jenn Lindsay about her career as a filmmaker and the role that her work with CMAC and IBSCSR played into launching her into her current work. Check out the crowdfunding campaign for her upcoming film…
Modeling Religious Change (MRC) is a multi-million-dollar project dedicated to advancing our understanding of religious and nonreligious identity and change by developing a tool for scholars and policy makers to explore demographic analysis and forecasting. Although MRC began in 2020, we have…
Does religion play a causal role in promoting anxiety between groups? In a recent paper published in the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, CMAC researchers collaborated with the Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center (VMASC) to study anxiety…
Research Associate LeRon Shults, Research Associate Ross Gore, Executive Director Wesley J. Wildman, Collaborating Specialist Christopher Lynch, Post-Doctoral Fellow Justin E. Lane, and Collaborating Specialist Monica Toft Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Vol. 21(4) October 2018 Abstract: We propose…
Research Associate LeRon Shults and Ross Gore, Collaborating Specialist Carlos Lemos and Executive Director Wesley Wildman Psychology of Religion and Spirituality Volume 10 Issue 3 August 2018 Abstract: This article offers an affirmative construal of atheism: the attempt to make sense…
Dear Friends, June 30th, 2018 is the final day of the Modeling Religion Project. I’m writing to thank you for joining me on this amazing journey. At the Center for Mind and Culture (CMAC), and its Institute for the Bio-Cultural…
Research Associate LeRon Shults Seventh International Conference of the Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought: Evolution and Transcendence June 20, 2018 Conference Summary: The theme of the 2018 IARPT conference is human transcendence considered in light of biocultural evolution. Central…
CMAC’s Executive Director Dr. Wesley J. Wildman wrote the following article for The Conversation, summarizing some of the findings of the Modeling Religion Project. It is reprinted below with permission. This article has also been featured in the San Francisco…
When most people think of the study of religion, they think of ancient languages, sacred texts, congregational surveys, or anthropologists setting up camp in a tribal society. What if we could use computer simulations to recreate historical events, learn about…
From the Roman Empire to the USSR, even the most sophisticated societies eventually collapse, leaving behind ruins, a displaced populace, or (at best) a whole lot of unpleasant paperwork. But some societies last a lot longer than others. Why? One…
Executive Director Wesley J. Wildman and Research Associate LeRon Shults Emergent Behavior in Complex Systems Engineering: A Modeling and Simulation Approach April 16, 2018 Chapter Summary: This chapter begins with a primer on basic philosophical distinctions pertaining to emergence: weak emergence,…
Post-Doctoral Fellow Justin Lane Religion, Brain and Behavior March 21, 2018 Lane writes a commentary for a symposium on Taves’ Revelatory Events: Three Case Studies of the Emergence of New Spiritual Paths. Introduction: “Revelatory Events” (2016) is definitive of the current…
Research Associate LeRon Shults February 12, 2018 Book Description: Where do gods come from – and what is the cost of bearing them? In Practicing Safe Sects F. LeRon Shults argues for the importance of having “the talk” about the causes and consequences…
Research Associates Ross Gore and LeRon Shults, Executive Director Wesley Wildman and Co-Authors Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation January 31, 2018 Abstract: We employ existing data sets and agent-based modeling to forecast changes in religiosity and existential security among…
Executive Director Wesley Wildman, Research Associate LeRon Shults and Co-Author Proceedings of the 2017 Winter Simulation Conference December 2017 Abstract: Human simulation (applying Modeling and Simulation (M&S) to topics in the humanities, the interpretative social sciences, and the arts) is a…
Research Associates Jose Padilla, Ross Gore and Saikou Diallo, Collaborating Specialist Christopher Lynch Simulation October 24, 2017 Abstract: This paper reports on a survey capturing modelers’ perspectives of Modeling and Simulation (M&S). The survey was completed by a total of 283…
Research Associate LeRon Shults Social Simulation Conference 2017 September 28, 2017 Conference Summary: The Social Simulation Conference 2017 was held in the O’Brien Centre in UCD, Dublin on 25 – 29 September, 2017 – Social Simulation for a Digital Society. This is…
Post-Doctoral Fellow Justin Lane Chapter in Religion Explained?: The Cognitive Science of Religion After Twenty-Five Years September 21, 2017 Book Summary: With contributions from founders of the field, including Justin Barrett, E. Thomas Lawson, Robert N. McCauley, Paschal Boyer, Armin Geertz and…
Research Associates F. LeRon Shults and Ross Gore, Executive Director Wesley J. Wildman, Post-Doctoral Fellow Justin Lane and Co-Authors 2017 Social Simulation Conference in Dublin, Ireland September 2017 Abstract: Empirical findings from psychology and social science suggest that both individual and…
This article was originally published at Patheos and has been reprinted with permission. Religion and self-regulation: a model (and a trip to Norway)