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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Religious Chanting and Self-Related Brain Regions: A Multi-Modal Neuroimaging Study
Published on: May 31, 2024
Why religion is nothing special but is central
1Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics, London WC2A 2AE, UK. m.e.bloch@lse.ac.uk
Evolutionary explanations of religion are misleading. Instead, focus on unique human sociality, essentialized roles, and imagined communities, which rely on developed imagination, possibly emerging during the Upper Palaeolithic revolution.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Evolutionary Anthropology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Religion is often explained through evolutionary frameworks.
- This approach may be flawed due to religion's integral role in human social organization.
- Human sociality uniquely involves essentialized roles and imagined communities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose that evolutionary explanations of religion are misleading.
- To redirect research towards the unique aspects of human sociality.
- To explore the neurological basis of human social organization, including religion.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of human social organization.
- Comparative analysis of human and primate sociality.
- Examination of the role of imagination in social structures.
Main Results:
- Explaining religion solely in evolutionary terms is considered a misleading endeavor.
- Human sociality is distinguished by essentialized roles and imagined communities (e.g., clans, nations).
- These social constructs are phenomenologically real but not based on direct empirical observation.
Conclusions:
- Religion is an indissoluble part of a unique human social organization.
- The neurological underpinnings of this sociality, including religion, depend on the development of imagination.
- The emergence of advanced imagination likely coincided with the Upper Palaeolithic revolution.
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