CMAC research projects produce a host of impactful results. Some of them are presented on this page.
Ample evidence connects dreams with spiritual and religious experiences, yet dreams remain understudied as a source of supernatural agent concepts. Stories about life-changing dreams appear frequently in religious literature and oral tradition. Many people throughout history claim to have encountered supernatural agents in dreams,…
To many, the idea of an invisible person who watches over you and rewards or punishes you according to your behavior sounds like a fairy tale. Sure, many American children believe in Santa Claus, but they eventually outgrow those beliefs. Why…
Around the world and throughout history, people have expressed belief in the existence of powerful, invisible entities who — much like us — have intentions, needs, and goals. Whether gods, demons, ghosts, or ancestor spirits, these “supernatural agents” cannot be…
Modeling Religious Change combines demography, the scientific study of religion, and computational models to create simulations of religious change in the USA, Norway, and India. Our research tackles the challenge of creating more accurate projections of religious change in populations by taking account of multiple dimensions of religiosity.…
Designing cutting-edge technology to understand human cognition We’ve all experienced it. A terrifying monster is chasing you. You try to run but your legs won’t work. It’s as if you’re trudging through a thick swamp. You can’t escape. Fear and…
CMAC is conducting a study on frequent nightmares in people over 65 years old as part of Dr. Patrick McNamara’s project Neurocomputational Modeling of Nightmare Disorder. We are gathering information about the properties of nightmare imagery in individuals over the…
Trigger warning: suicide, suicidal means, and death. Please proceed with caution. If you or someone you know is in crisis, dial 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. In the US, suicide is among the top 10 leading causes of death,…
Digital ethics is the application of ethics to digital systems and networks. The discipline of ethics has two main components: A descriptive dimension in which we use ethics to understand the ethical relationships that can be studied and observed. This aspect…
Over the past two years, medical doctors and public health officials have been at the center of a national dialogue addressing the physical, communal, and political effects of COVID-19. One dimension of that dialogue concerns the hard fact that pandemic…
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…
Education is a concept that has been considered the great equalizer because the access and skills that it provides promotes improved career opportunities and can catapult an individual into the professional middle class. However, access to the great equalizer is…
Corporate wage inequity, or the unequal access to opportunity for women in corporate environments, presents a prevalent issue. Research shows that a person’s network and referrals have an impact on pay. According to researchers Herbert Dawid and Simon Gemkow, “an…
Ivan Puga-Gonzalez, Rachel J. Bacon, David Voas, F. LeRon Shults, George Hodulik, Wesley J. Wildman Abstract: Social scientists generally take United Nations (UN) population projections as the baseline when considering the potential impact of any changes that could affect fertility, mortality or migration, and the…
The first wave of Covid-19 vaccines Over the past year, we have witnessed a mass mobilization in vaccination of historic proportion. Lines wrapped around blocks to secure an early shot, sports stadiums opened to accommodate clinics, a frenzy to scavenge…
Andreas Tolk, Justin E. Lane, F. LeRon Shults, Wesley J. Wildman WSC ’21: Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference Abstract: Today’s challenges must be addressed as socio-technical systems, including insights from the social sciences and humanities to adequately represent the…
In recent decades, women are participating in the labor force in higher numbers, working longer hours, and pursuing higher levels of education. New laws, protections, and policies have been instituted locally and nationally to make workplaces more equitable. While longer…
Wesley J. Wildman Bulletin for the Study of Religion Abstract: Academic conferences are among the most energizing gatherings of scholars and scholarship. When the North American Association for the Study of Religion pivoted to an online format for their 2020…
Book Review Spirit Tech: The Brave New World of Consciousness Hacking and Enlightenment Engineering by Kate J. Stockly and Wesley Wildman, is an exploration of the various rising industries that focus on the spiritual growth of individuals. The book covers…
Ann Taves, Wesley J. Wildman, F. LeRon Shults, and Raymond F. Paloutzian Method & Theory in the Study of Religion Abstract: The Values in Scholarship on Religion (VISOR) project collected data on the preferred methods and values of scholars in the academic study…