Presentation: Understanding Liberals and Conservatives
Post-Doctoral Fellow Connor Wood Presbyterian Church in Sudbury MA USA May 4, 2018 Learn More about the Lecture
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IACSR Conference 8/12 – 8/16
IACSR’s 7th Biennial Meeting in Boston, August 12 – 16, 2018 Sponsored by grants at the Center for Mind and Culture (CMAC) and the Center for Modeling Social Systems (CMSS), the conference will be held in Boston at the Hyatt…
New Publication: The Rhythms of Discontent
Post-Doctoral Fellow Connor Wood and Research Director Catherine Caldwell-Harris Journal of Cognition and Culture April 27, 2018 Abstract: Synchrony — intentional, rhythmic motor entrainment in groups — is an important topic in social psychology and the cognitive science of religion. Synchrony…
Presentation: Analyzing the Effectiveness of Anti-Child-Sex-Trafficking Policies
Post-Doctoral Fellow Khatera Alizada Complexity and Policy Studies (CAPS) 2018 Conference at the Computational and Public Policy Lab at George Mason University, Arlington VA USA April 20, 2018 Conference Summary: Complexity and Policy Studies (CAPS) offers a forum for addressing these issues…
Why is Shamanism So Common?
This article was originally published at Patheos and has been reprinted with permission. Why Is Shamanism So Common?
New Publication: Emergence
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,…
New Publication: Complexity and Possession
Post-Doctoral Fellow Connor Wood & Doctoral Fellow Kate Stockly Behavioral and Brain Sciences April 6, 2018 Abstract: Singh deploys cultural evolution to explain recurrent features of shamanistic trance forms, but fails to substantively address important distinctions between these forms. Possession trance…
Presentation: Fostering Faith and Supporting STEM
Post-Doctoral Fellow Connor Wood Museum of Science, Boston MA USA March 24, 2018 View More Information
New Publication: Bridging Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to Religion
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…
New Publications: Practicing Safe Sects
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…
Presentation: Theoretical Perspectives on Conservative and Liberal Religion
Post-Doctoral Fellow Connor Wood Rabbis Without Borders Alumni Retreat at the Pearlstone Center, Reisterstown MD USA February 12, 2018 Retreat Summary: No matter where we all fall on the political, cultural and religious spectrum, we are all struggling in some way…
New Publication: Forecasting Changes in Religiosity and Existential Security with an Agent-Based Model
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…
New Publication: How North American Philosophers of Religion See Their Field
Executive Director Wesley J. Wildman and Doctoral Fellow David Rohr Chapter in Renewing Philosophy of Religion: Exploratory Essays 2017 Book Description: This book is animated by a shared conviction that philosophy of religion needs to change: thirteen new essays suggest why…
New Publication: Agent-Based Modeling of Social Conflict
Collaborating Specialist Carlos Lemos 2018 Book Description: This Brief revisits and extends Epstein’s classical agent-based model of civil violence by considering important mechanisms suggested by social conflict theories. Among them are: relative deprivation as generator of hardship, generalized vanishing of the…
New Publication: Teaching at the Intersection of Simulation and the Humanities
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…
New Publication: Reflective Thought, Religious Belief and the Social Foundations Hypothesis
Research Director Catherine Caldwell-Harris, Post-Doctoral Fellow Connor Wood and Doctoral Fellow Jonathan Morgan Chapter in The New Reflectionism in Cognitive Psychology: Why Reason Matters December 2017 Abstract: Analytical thinking predicts irreligiosity across paradigms and contexts. Explanations for this association have included…
Presentation: Women, Ritual and Domestic Violence
Doctoral Fellow Kate Stockly & Post-Doctoral Fellow Stephanie Arel and Research Associate Megan DeFranza Conference on Evolution of Religion II: How Biology, Psychology and Culture Interact November 14, 2017 Abstract: One of the most perpetually puzzling questions about religion is: why…
Conference: The Evolution of Religion II
Post-Doctoral Fellow Connor Wood (Co-Organizer of Conference) Conference on Evolution of Religion II: How Biology, Psychology and Culture Interact November 12 – 15, 2017 Conference Summary: The first International Conference on the Evolution of Religion was held in Hawaii in January,…
Presentation: Using Computational Modeling to Mitigate the Human Trafficking Problem
Post-Doctoral Fellow Khatera Alizada & Executive Director Wesley Wildman The Pardee School Initiative on Forced Migration and Human Trafficking at Boston University, Boston MA USA October 27, 2017 Workshop Summary: The Initiative on Forced Migration and Human Trafficking (FMHT), a research initiative…
New Publication: Observations on the Practice and Profession of Modeling and Simulation
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…