Lesson video

Hi, there.

My name is Ms. Marks and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today, our lesson is called Cognitive Science of Religion and it forms part of our Psychology of Religion unit.

I find this absolutely fascinating and I think you are going to too.

So, let's get started.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to describe how religious ideas are widespread across many cultures and times and explain why the human mind may be likely to accept them.

So, let's look at our keywords first.

Our keywords are agent detection, cognitive science, psychology, supernatural, and superstition.

Agent detection is when an animal or a human assumes another being is causing a natural event.

Cognitive science is the scientific study of how the mind works, functions, and behaves.

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour.

Supernatural is something which exists beyond the laws of nature.

And superstition is a widely held but irrational belief in supernatural influences, such as good and bad luck being caused by behaviours.

So, we'll look out for those in today's lesson.

So in our lesson today, we are going to do two things.

Firstly, look at religious ideas across culture and times.

And then, we're going to look at the human mind and religion.

So first off, religious ideas across culture and time.

I'm going to show you two photos of two statues now and we're going to think about what they could tell us about religious ideas.

So on the left, we have an image of the Shigir Idol, and on the right, we have an image of the Lion-man.

What can you notice? What might you speculate about these images and religious ideas? So, pause the video and have a think.

You can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Did you know the Lion-man is around 40,000 years old and the Shigir Idol is around 12,000 years old? And these were both used for worship.

The Lion-man has the head of a lion, a cave lion to be precise.

This was found in Germany.

And the body of a person.

And this is believed to be the oldest statue that we have, which shows us that people were worshipping this figure back then 40,000 years ago.

And the Shigir Idol was found in Russia and is the oldest wooden sculpture that we have, and it's believed to be an idol that was worshipped for this deity.

Something that's was said to have these supernatural powers.

And these show us that humans have had religious ideas for at least 40,000 years.

Now, that is older than many of the world religions that you may have already studied as part of religious education.

So, these ideas have been around for a long, long time.

But it's not just in terms of history that we're thinking about religious ideas today, also across different cultures today, we have got religious ideas being held.

And in 2012, PEW Research Centre did a piece of mega study where they looked at studies from across over 230 different countries around the world.

And when they look to all this data from all these different countries, they found that about 84% of people across the world were identified as being part of a religion.

Now, that doesn't mean we know their exact religious ideas, but they were identified as being part of a religion.

Now, that is a vast majority, isn't it? 84% if you can see on the pie chart.

So, that means that these ideas are very widely spread across the world as well as have gone way back in history.

So, religion and religious ideas are found all over the world.

Let's do a quick check.

What percentage of people were identified as being part of a religion in the 2012 PEW Research? 24%, 48%, or 84%.

That's right, it's 84%.

The vast majority of people were identified across the world as being part of a religion.

But what is important for today's lesson is that people can have religious ideas even if they're not part of a religion.

So, cognitive scientists and psychologists are really interested in these ideas, not always necessarily the exact religion that they may be part of.

So examples of some of these ideas could be that they're a supernatural beings with powers beyond what a human would have and I've got a picture of an angel here, sculpture of an angel.

Or it could be there's some kind of life after death.

So, it doesn't have to be that someone believes in a specific religions teaching about that, but they might have a feeling that there is life after death.

And here, we've got a Viking funeral painting.

Or it could be that there is order in the natural world due to a supernatural power.

So, it could be that there is some power that has created to design the universe to be the way that it is rather than it being just through evolution or through scientific explanations.

And so, those don't have to be part of a religion for someone to hold what cognitive scientists are calling religious ideas.

So Sofia, Jacob, Jun, and Sam are gonna talk about this with us now and I wonder whether you have similar ideas to this.

Sofia says, "I have friends who believe in God but aren't in a religion." That can be very common, can't it? Jacob says, "I've got friends who don't believe in God, but they do believe in angels." Again, that can be quite common that someone might not be in a religion or believe in God, but believe that there are angels.

Jun says, "I have friends who aren't religious, but do have superstitions." That's one of our key words there.

So, some people might believe that good and bad luck can come about from something without necessarily being in a religion.

And Sam says, "I have friends who are religious, but they believe in reincarnation." So, the idea that someone or something will come back again as something else after it dies isn't necessarily religious, but could be seen as a religious idea.

Many people might not be religious, but do have some superstitions.

Maybe you know some superstitions or you've heard of some.

And there are many different superstitions held in various cultures around the world and they often relate to actions which can cause good or bad luck.

So, they're not necessarily a direct consequence of the thing that's happened, but it's seen as that action having some effect on you having good or bad luck in the future.

I wonder if you know of these examples.

So, a broken mirror is a really common one across many cultures, perhaps because it's your image that's being shattered in front of you or perhaps because it is pretty bad luck to pick up broken glass 'cause you might cut your finger.

But the idea that you would break a mirror, and then it caused seven years of bad luck, for example, is a superstition because it's not really rational that that broken mirror has caused all this bad luck for you in the future.

Another superstition that's held in the world is that in China, it's seen as bad luck or a way to put a curse on somebody to put your chopsticks upright in your bowl of rice.

So, it's seen as bad luck to do that.

Maybe 'cause someone fell on it once and hurt themselves.

But it's a superstition that you shouldn't put your chopsticks up in your bowl of rice.

And another superstition, often in sports, there are many superstitions involved.

And here we've got Ronaldo, a footballer who has a superstition that when he plays a football match, he always puts his right foot on the pitch first and believes that that's gonna help him play better, but also is gonna bring good luck to him.

And so, these are widely held superstitions that people may have.

I wonder if you know of any more.

Let's do another quick check.

Which statement is correct about religious ideas? People who have religious ideas are always part of a specific religion.

People can have religious ideas without being part of a specific religion.

Or people who have religious ideas are never part of a specific religion.

Which one is correct? Well done.

Yes, it was B.

You can have religious ideas without being in a religion, and that is what cognitive scientists of religion are really interested in.

So, what are some of the similarities of these religious ideas? Remembering that they're not always part of a religion.

So often, there'll be an idea that there is a being or beings with supernatural powers, so beyond what we have in the natural world.

Often they'll be connected to some form of life after death or some way of some one continuing after they've died.

They might be connected to rituals which are actions that are done in the same way each time over and over, or other special actions either causing good luck, or certain actions causing bad luck.

They might be connected to a supernatural being or beings knowing our actions and our thoughts or a supernatural force knowing what we've done, and then causing other things to happen to us in the future.

They might be connected to this idea of design in the universe.

So, more than just perhaps evolution has made things the way that they are beyond that to their being a mind or a designer behind that universe.

Let's meet Karen Armstrong now.

She is a scholar of religion and she says that religious ideas are so common in human cultures.

Remember not just religions, but those ideas.

That we are not only Homo sapiens, but Homo religiosus.

So, it's part of who it is to be human.

She says that we've had religious ideas and religious artefacts as long as we've had art, culture, music.

Religious ideas have been there and it's just woven into the fabric of who we are as humans.

I wonder what you think about that.

Well, Jacob tells us his view here, "I agree that religious ideas seem to be part of what it means to be human.

Even if someone's not in a religion, we can see that religious ideas are an important part of human cultures and societies.

Superstitions show that humans often believe their supernatural powers at work, but we cannot see." So Jacob is kind of accepting what she says here, that it's part of what it means to be human.

I wonder what you think.

Let's hear some more ideas from our students.

So Sofia says, "No," she doesn't agree.

"Maybe in the past it was, but less people are religious now, so I think it's not." Jun says "Yes.

Humans will always look for answers to life's ultimate questions, so I think that it is." And Lucas says, "No.

I know lots of people who don't have any religious ideas at all, so I think that it isn't." So we've got two here who say no and Jun here who says yes.

I wonder if you agree with any of those or if you have your own view and why.

Let's do another check.

Humans have only believed religious ideas the last 6,000 years.

Is that true or false? That's false, isn't it? But why? Well, religious ideas have been held since before the world religions began.

Do you remember our images at the beginning showing that these ideas have been going back at least 40,000 years and maybe beyond.

So, a lot longer than the world religions that we have around us at the moment sort of began.

Let's take a moment to practise what we've learned so far.

So Sofia, Sam, and Jun are discussing religious ideas and for each statement, you are going to give a reason or a piece of evidence to support it.

So, you'll look at the statement and then you can write either a reason or a piece of evidence from what we've talked about to support it.

Let's read their statements.

Sofia says, "Some religious ideas are older than world religions." Sam says, "Some people hold religious ideas without being in a religion." And Jun says, "Most people in the world believe in some religious ideas." So, what piece of evidence could you give for each of them? Off you go.

Well done for your hard work there.

I asked you to write one piece of evidence for a reason to support each of the statements from our students below.

Let's see what you've written.

It might look something like this.

Sofia said, "Some religious ideas are older than world religions." And you might have written, "People once worship the Shigir Idol, which is 12,000 years old," as the evidence or a reason for what she said.

Sam said, "Some people hold religious ideas without being in a religion." And you might have said, "Many people might believe in superstitious without being in a religion." And Jun said, "Most people in the world believe in some sort of religious ideas." And you could have said, "Across 230 countries, 84% of people were identified as being part of a religion, from that PEW Research." Well done for all your hard work.

So now, we're gonna go to the second part of our lesson, the human mind and religion.

Social scientists, like psychologists, are interested in why religious ideas are so widespread across different cultures.

Jun explains what we mean by psychology in religious education.

"Psychologists study the human mind and behaviour.

Psychologists are interested in religious ideas and practises as they relate to the human brain.

Psychologists will use the tools of social science to investigate this." So remember, we are not just looking at the world religions.

We are looking at these different religious ideas that might be held by people and why people might have these and how it can relate to the human brain.

So let's unpack this word, psychology.

It comes from Greek and it has these stems. Psych meaning spirit, life, or soul.

and logy, which you might have seen in lots of different subjects, because it means the study of or understanding of.

So lots of subjects have logy at the end, biology, sociology, and today we're thinking about psychology.

So therefore, psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour.

So, psychologists are really interested in the human mind and the brain and how it works.

And cognitive scientists look even more closely at the human brain to try and understand how it works.

They're using the tools of psychology, as well as other social scientists to bring together this idea of how the mind and the brain works for humans.

Many scientists argue that the human brain seems to be naturally accepting of religious ideas.

So, it seems to be sort of programmed into the human brain to accept the kind of ideas we've been talking about today.

Let's do a quick check.

Many cognitive scientists argue the human brain seems to be naturally accepting of religious ideas.

Is that true or false? Well done, it's true.

Cognitive scientists have found that humans are likely to see design, purpose, and order in the natural world.

And one example that's often used is the human fingerprint, because we each have a unique fingerprint.

You might have known this before.

And that might lead some people to believe that that has been designed uniquely for each of us by some supernatural being.

Another example of this could be the superstitions we spoke about earlier.

So, Ronaldo is a football player who has a superstition that if he starts a match with his right foot on the pitch first, he's more likely to win it.

It's going to bring good luck.

Now, if he does that once with his right foot and wins a game, he might do it again, and then again, and again, and he may end up with a superstition that there's a supernatural force bringing him good luck because of this action.

So, there is some order and some purpose into that part of the universe for him.

Cognitive scientists suggest that evolution can help explain why humans look for these patterns and order in the world.

It could be a survival technique, could be something that's helped humans to survive in the past.

Sam and Jacob are gonna think about this with us now.

So Sam says, "If we learn what puts us in danger, we're able to survive longer." Makes sense, doesn't it? To watch out for what puts us in danger.

Then we can pass on our genes to the next generation, and that is all part of the process of evolution.

Jacob says, "If we can make predictions, so if we can start to think about what might happen in the future, we can be prepared to face it." If we can think about some dangers that might come to us, then we can be prepared and no longer be harmed by them and then we can pass that on to our offspring too.

So, let's use a story now as a thought experiment to help us understand how this could link to religious ideas.

Imagine you are walking through a dark wood at night.

You hear a twig snap in the distance, but you can't see what it is.

It could be some wind or maybe a tree just moving or it could be an animal ready to attack you.

So, you have two options now in the wood.

One, you can imagine it's a large predator who's coming to get you.

So, I've got a bear here.

Something's coming to attack you.

Or two, you could imagine it's just the normal sound of the forest, maybe the wind.

Which option is gonna keep you safer? Pause the video and have a think and decide between option one and option two.

You can talk to your neighbour or you can talk to me.

Lots of great ideas there, but option one would keep you safer in the forest, no matter if there's a bear or not.

Sam's gonna explain how.

"If I think the noise is a bear and I hide, I will survive, even if there's no bear.

If I think there's noise is a twig in the wind then I won't hide.

And if it is a bear, I could be eaten." So, I have two options.

And if it is a bear, then I'm gonna be safe.

If I go and hide from a bear and if there's a twig, I'm still gonna be safe.

In psychology and cognitive science, this is called agent detection.

Agent detection is the tendency for humans and other non-human animals to assume there's another being causing a natural event.

So, I say non-human animals because if you've ever seen a rabbit jump when it hears a noise and it thinks maybe a fox is coming to get it, but it's just a twig falling in the forest, then it's the same thing.

It's assuming there's a being causing the event.

And that way you are able to then predict what that being might do in the future if it's a mind behind something rather than just natural things happening.

This has helped humans and non-human animals to survive, because it's helped 'em be more cautious through imagining another being that is deliberately causing the events.

So rather than it just being random chance and natural things that are happening, thinking that there's a mind or a being behind something has helped 'em to survive.

Let's see how.

We can see how this can be passed down through generations and why it's linked to evolution by cognitive scientists.

So humans and animals, who assume there's another being causing an event, you know a natural event, survive longer.

So if they survive longer into adulthood and then they have children or offspring, they can pass that on genetically, but also they're gonna teach their offspring to do the same.

So there might be something genetically, but also they're teaching them and raising them to do the same thing and react the same way.

So therefore, their offspring will also assume there's another being causing a natural event and they're gonna live longer and pass it on, and so on, and so on.

Time for another check.

What term is given by psychologists and cognitive scientists when we assume there's another being that has caused an event? Something detection.

Well done, agent detection.

Some cognitive scientists say that as the human brain has become more complex, agent detection has changed from thinking there's another being in the physical world causing an event to there being some supernatural power beyond it.

So beyond the physical natural world, there's some power and some intelligence causing different events to happen, which could have a natural explanation.

An example of this could be that humans often see a coincidence as the work of a supernatural force.

So, a coincidence is when two events normally quite extraordinarily timed events happen at the same time and people are amazed that these two things have happened or more.

I wonder if you've had any coincidences in your life or you know of any that have made people wonder if there's something else at play here that's caused these things to happen.

Let's have a look at an example and see how this might lead some people to believe there was a supernatural force at work.

So, this is Violet Jessop.

She was on a ship called The Britannic, which sank in 1916, but she survived.

She was on another ship called The Olympic, which crashed in 1911, but she survived.

And she was on another ship called The Titanic, which sank in 1912, but she survived.

I wonder if she might have thought or others that she had survived because of a supernatural force protecting her or causing her to survive, especially if I told you that she actually saved the life of a baby on The Titanic that was going to drown.

Did this happen because it's a coincidence that she was on all three ships that survived or was there some supernatural force? So, we can see how coincidences can sometimes cause people to believe that there's some force behind them and they may well be.

Well, Sofia and Jacob are discussing the relationship between cognitive science and some of these religious ideas that we've been thinking about.

Sofia says, "These ideas could be showing us how a God has programmed the human mind to believe there's a supernatural force behind events in the universe as a way to help humans believe." So, Sofia is showing us that these ideas from cognitive signs don't necessarily mean there's no God or that there's no supernatural force or power in the universe, but maybe that the human mind is likely to accept them and it's helping us to believe these things.

Whereas Jacob says, "Well, not everyone has religious ideas or superstitions.

Perhaps cognitive science can help us to understand why some people do." Let's do another check.

Coincidences can lead some people to believe there's a supernatural force causing them.

Is that true or false? Yeah, well done.

That's true.

Maybe not everybody, but some people, it does.

So, let's practise what we've learned.

Some cognitive scientists say the human mind is likely to accept religious ideas.

What reasons do they give? You're going to write three reasons using these terms below to help you, agent detection, evolution, and coincidence.

So, one reason each.

You could use this sentence starter.

The human mind may be likely to accept religious ideas because, and then put your reason.

So, off you go and I'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, that was some really hard work there.

Some of these are are really big ideas for us to be covering today.

So, I asked you to give three reasons why some cognitive scientists would say the human mind is likely to accept religious ideas and you needed to include agent detection, evolution, and coincidence.

Your answers might look something like this.

"The human mind may be likely to accept religious ideas because of agent detection, where the mind assumes there is a being or force behind an event." Secondly, "The human mind may be likely to accept religious ideas because of the evolution.

Ideas like order, and purpose, and beings causing events help people to survive pass on their genes, and this is developed into religious ideas." And thirdly, "The human mind may be likely to accept religious ideas, because a coincidence could be so extraordinary that the mind believes there's a supernatural force behind it." So, well done for your hard work today.

So before we go today, let's just recap on everything we've learned.

Religious ideas have been around through much of human history and across all cultures.

Psychologists are interested in why people may have religious ideas and many cognitive sciences say the human mind is programmed to accept religious ideas naturally.

And agent detection means that human minds are likely to believe are supernatural forces behind certain events rather than chance, which gave humans an evolutionary advantage.

Well done again for all your hard work today, and I'll see you next time.