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Updated: Mar 24, 2026

Author Spotlight: Exploring Dynamic Neural Changes Associated with Religious Chanting
Published on: May 31, 2024
Explaining the success of karmic religions
Claire White1, Paulo Sousa2, Karolina Prochownik3
1Department of Religious Studies,California State University,Northridge,CA 91330.claire.white@csun.eduhttp://www.csun.edu/humanities/religious-studies/faculty.
Abstract:
One of the central claims of Norenzayan et al.'s article is that supernatural monitoring and intergroup competition have facilitated the rise of large-scale prosocial religions. Although the authors outline in detail how social instincts that govern supernatural monitoring are honed by cultural evolution and have given rise to Big Gods, they do not provide a clear explanation for the success of karmic religions. Therefore, to test the real scope of their model, Norenzayan et al. need to seriously engage with questions concerning the evolution of karmic prosocial religions.
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