Publications

2018

Curry, Oliver S., Daniel A.Mullins, & Harvey Whitehouse (in press). Is it good to cooperate? Testing the theory of morality-as-cooperation in 60 societies. Current Anthropology. (Preprint doi: https://osf.io/9546r/)

Cho, P.S., Escoffier, N., Mao, Y., Ching, A., Green, C., Jong, J., Whitehouse, H. (in press) Groups and Emotional Arousal Mediate Neural Synchrony and Perceived Ritual Efficacy Frontiers in Psychology

Kapitany, R., Kavanagh, C., Whitehouse, H., Nielsen, M. (2018) Examining memory for ritualized gesture in complex causal sequences. Cognition. 181: 46-57. doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.08.005

Kavanagh, C. M., Jong, J., McKay, R., & Whitehouse, H. (2018). Positive experiences of high arousal martial arts rituals are linked to identity fusion and costly progroup actions. European Journal of Social Psychology. doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2514

Newson, M., Bortolini, T., Buhrmester, M., Ricardo da Silva, S., Queiroga da Aquino, J.N., & Whitehouse, H. (2018) Brazil's football warriors: Social bonding and inter-group violence ScienceDirect, doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.010

Apps, M.A.J., McKay, R., Azevedo, R.T. Whitehouse, H. & Tsakiris, M. (2018) Not on my team: Medial prefrontal cortex responses to ingroup fusion and unfair monetary divisions Onlinelibrary Wiley doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1030

Buhrmester, M.D., Burnham, D., Johnson, Dominic D. P., Curry, O.S., Macdonald, D.W., Whitehouse, H. (2018) How Moments Become Movements: Shared Outrage, Group Cohesion, and the Lion That Went Viral Front. Ecol. Evol., doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2018.00054

Whitehouse, H. (2018).Dying for the group: Towards a general theory of extreme self-sacrifice. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1-64. doi:10.1017/S0140525X18000249

Arrowood, R. B., Jong, J., Vail III., K. E., & Hood, R. W. (2018).Guest editors' foreword: On the importance of integrating terror management and psychology of religion. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 8 (1), 1-3. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2018.1411636

Jackson, J. C., Jong, J., Bilkey, D., Whitehouse, H., Zollman, S., McNaughton, C., & Halberstadt, J. (2018). Synchrony and arousal increase cohesion and cooperation in large naturalistic groups. Nature: Scientific Reports, 8 (1), 127. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-18023-4. 

Jackson, J., Jong, J., Bluemke, M., Poulter, P., Morgenroth, L. & Halberstadt, J. (2018).Testing the causal relationship between religiosity and death anxiety. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 8 (1), 57-68. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2016.1238842

Jong, J., Ross, R., Philip, T., Chang, S. H., Simons, N., & Halberstadt, J. (2018). The religious correlates of death anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 8 (1), 4-20. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2016.1238844

Jong, J., & Halberstadt, J. (2018 ). Death anxiety and religious belief: responses to commentaries. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 1-12. doi:10.1080/2153599X.2017.1414712 

Curry, O. S., Rowland, L., Van Lissa, C. J., Zlotowitz, S., McAlaney, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2018). Happy to Help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor. Journal of Experimental Psychology, doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.02.014

2017

Curry, O.S., Mullins, D.A. & Whitehouse, H. (2017). Is it good to cooperate? Testing the theory of morality-as-cooperation in 60 societies. Current Anthropology. 

Lanman, J. & Buhrmester, M.D. (2017). Religious actions speak louder than words: CREDs exposure predicts theism. Religion, Brain, and Behavior, 7(1), 3-16. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2015.1117011. 

Newson, M. (2017). Football, fan violence, and identity fusion. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport . doi.org/10.1177/1012690217731293

Vázquez, A., Gómez, &., Ordoñana, J., Swann, W., & Whitehouse, H.  (2017). Sharing genes fosters identity fusion and altruism Self and Identity, 16(6), 684-702. doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2017.1296887

Whitehouse, H., Jong, J., Buhrmester, M. D., Gómez, A., Bastian, B., Kavanagh, C. M., Newson, M., Matthews, M., Lanman, J. A., McKay, R., & Gavrilets, S. (2017). The evolution of extreme cooperation via shared dysphoric experiences. Nature:Scientific Reports 7, 44292. doi.org/10.1038/srep44292

Jong, J., & Halberstadt, J. (2017). What is the causal relationship between death anxiety and religious belief? Religion, Brain, and Behavior, 7(4) 296-298. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2016.1249916

Jong, J., Ross, R., Philip, T., Chang, S. H., Simons, N., & Halberstadt, J. (2017). The religious correlates of death anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Religion, Brain, and Behavior, 8(1), 4-20. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2016.1238844

Rybanska, V., McKay, R., Jong, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2017). Rituals improve children’s ability to delay gratification. Child Development. doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12762

Jackson, J., Jong, J., Bluemke, M., Poulter, P., Morgenroth, L. & Halberstadt, J. (2017).  Testing the causal relationship between religiosity and death anxiety. Religion, Brain, and Behavior, 8(1), 57-68. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2016.1238842

Kavanagh, C. (2017). Too much, too little, or the wrong kind of 'theory' in the Study of Religions? Method and Theory in the Study of Religion.  

Kavanagh, C. & Yuki, M. (2017). Culture & Group Processes. Online Readings in Psychology & Culture, 5(4). doi.org/10.9707/2307-0919.1154

2016

McKay, R., & Whitehouse, H.  (2016). Religion promotes a love for thy neighbor. But how big is the neighbourhood? (Commentary on Norenzayan et al.) Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39(20). doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X15000503

Jimenez, J., Gómez, Á., Buhrmester, M. D., Vazquez, A, Whitehouse, H., & Swann, W. B. (2016). The Dynamic Identity Fusion Index (DIFI): A new continuous measure of identity fusion for Web-based questionnaires.Social Science Computer Review, 34(2), 215 - 228. doi.org/10.1177/0894439314566178

Watson-Jones, R. E., Whitehouse, H., & Legare, C.H., (2016). In-group ostracism increases high fidelity imitation in early childhood. Psychological Science. 27(1) 34–42. doi.org/10.1177/0956797615607205

Wilson, D. S., Hartberg, Y., MacDonald, I., Lanman, A. J., & Whitehouse, H.,  (2016) The Nature of Religious Diversity: A Cultural Ecosystem Approach. Religion, Brain, and Behavior. 7(2), 134-153. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2015.1132243

Bluemke, M., Jong, J., Grevenstein, D., Mikloušić, I., & Halberstadt, J. (2016). Measuring cross-cultural supernatural beliefs with self and peer reports. PLOS One, 11(10). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0164291

Halberstadt, J., Jackson, J. C., Bilkey, D., Jong, J., Whitehouse, H., McNaughton, C., & Zollman, S. (2016). Incipient social groups: an analysis via in-vivo behavioral tracking. PLOS One, 11(3), 215–228. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149880

Jong, J., & Halberstadt, J. (2016). Death anxiety and religious belief: an existential psychology of religion. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic.

McKay, R., & Whitehouse, H. (2016).Religion promotes a love for thy neighbor: But how big is the neighbourhood?(Commentary on Norenzayan et al.). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39(20). doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X15000503

Newson, M., Buhrmester, M., & Whitehouse, H. (2016). Explaining lifelong loyalty: The role of identity fusion in shaping group events. PLOS One, 11(8). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160427

Reddish, P., Tong, E. M. W., Jong, J., Lanman, J. A., & Whitehouse, H. (2016). Collective synchrony increases prosociality towards non-performers and outgroup members. British Journal of Social Psychology. 55, 722–738. doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12165

Kavanagh, C. (Sep 2016) Religion without belief. Aeon.

2015

Legare, C.H., Wen, N. J., Herrmann,P. A.,  and Whitehouse, H., (2015). Imitative flexibility and the development of cultural learning. Cognition. 142, 351-361. doi.org/110.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.020

Buhrmester, M.D., & Swann, W.B., Jr. (2015). Identity fusion. Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Interdisciplinary, Searchable, and Linkable Resource. 1–15. doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0172

Swann, W.B., Jr., & Buhrmester, M.D. (2015). Identity Fusion. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(1), 52-57. doi.org/10.1177/0963721414551363

Bastian, B., Bain, P., Buhrmester, M.D., Gomez, A., Vazquez, A., & Swann, W.B. Jr. (2015). Moral vitalism: Seeing good and evil as real. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(8), 1069 - 1081. doi.org/10.1177/0146167215589819

Whitehouse, H., (2015). Explaining Religion and Ritual. In K. Almqvist & A. Linklater (eds.) Religion: Perspectives from the Engelsberg seminar 2014. Stockholm: Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation, 261-70. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46224-0 1

Gaviria, E., Ferreira, C., Martínez, M., & Whitehouse, H. (2015). Identity and the developmental origins of fusion: An explanatory approach. Revista de Psicología Social, 30(3), 531-562. doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2015.1065088

Jackson, J., Halberstadt, J., Jong, J., & Felman, H. (2015). Perceived openness to experience accounts for religious homogamy. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(6), 630-638. doi.org/10.1177/1948550615574302

Jiménez, J., Gómez, Á., Buhrmester, M. D., Vázquez, A., Whitehouse, H., & Swann, W. B. J. (2015). The dynamic identity fusion index (DIFI): A new continuous measure of identity fusion for Web-based questionnaires. Social Science Computer Review, 34(2), 215–228. doi.org/10.1177/0894439314566178

Jong, J. (2015). On (not) defining (non)religion. Science, Religion and Culture, 2(3), 15-24. doi.org/10.17582/journal.src/2015/2.3.15.24

Jong, J., Kavanagh, C., & Visala, A. (2015). Born idolaters: The limits of the philosophical implications of the cognitive science of religion. Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 57(2), 244-266. doi.org/10.1515/nzsth-2015-0012

Jong, J., Whitehouse, H., Kavanagh, C., & Lane, J. (2015). Shared negative experiences lead to identity fusion via personal reflection.PLOS One, 10(12). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145611 

Legare, C. H., Wen, N. J., Herrmann, P. A., & Whitehouse, H. (2015). Imitative flexibility and the development of cultural learning. Cognition, 142, 351-361. doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2015.05.020

McKay, R., & Whitehouse, H. (2015). Religion and morality. Psychological Bulletin, 141(2), 447-473. doi.org/10.1037/a0038455

Whitehouse, H. (2015). Explaining Religion and Ritual K. Almqvist & A. Linklater (eds.) Religion: Perspectives from the Engelsberg seminar 2014. Stockholm: Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation, 261-70.

2014

McKay, R., & Whitehouse, H.,  (2014). Religion and Morality. Psychological Bulletin. Advance online publication,141(2), 447-73. doi.org/10.1037/a0038455

Swann, W.B., Jr., Buhrmester, M.D., Gómez, A., Jetten, J., Bastian, B., Vázquez A., et al. (2014). What makes a group worth dying for? Identity fusion fosters perception of familial ties, promoting self-sacrifice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106 (6), 912–926. doi.org/10.1037/a0036089

Swann, W.B., Jr., Gómez, A., Buhrmester, M.D., López-Rodríguez, L., Jiménez, J., et al. (2014) Contemplating the ultimate sacrifice: Identity fusion channels pro-group affect, cognition, and moral decision making. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106 (5), 713. doi.org/10.1037/a0035809

Alogna, V. K., Attaya, M. K., Aucoin, P., Bahnik, S., Birch, S., Birt, A. R., … Jong, J., et al. (2014). Registered replication report: Schooler and Engstler-Schooler(1990). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9(5), 556—578. doi.org/10.1177/1745691614545653

Buhrmester, M. D., Fraser, W. T., Lanman, J. A., Whitehouse, H., & Swann, W. B. J. (2014). When terror hits home: Identity fused Americans who saw Boston bombing victims as “family” provided aid. Self & Identity, 14(3), 253-270. doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2014.992465

Jong, J. (2014). Ernest Becker’s psychology of religion: a view from social cognitive psychology. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 49, 875—889. doi:10.1111/zygo.12127

Jong, J., & Visala, A. (2014). Three quests for human nature: some philosophical reflections. Philosophy, Theology, and the Sciences, 1, 146—171. doi.org/10.1628/219597714X14025664303001

Jong, J., & Visala, A. (2014). Evolutionary debunking arguments against theism, reconsidered. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 76 (3), 243—258. doi.org/10.1007/s1115

Halberstadt, J., & Jong, J. (2014). Scaring the bejesus into people: the role of religious belief in managing implicit and explicit anxiety. In J. Forgas and E. Harmon-Jones (Eds.), Motivation and its regulation: the control within. New York, NY: Psychology Press, 331-350. DOI: 10.13140/2.1.2794.0807 

Russell, Y. I., Gobet, F., & Whitehouse, H. (2014). Mood, expertise, analogy, and ritual: An experiment using the five-disc Tower of Hanoi. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 6(1), 67-87. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2014.921861

Watson-Jones, R., Legare, C. H., Whitehouse, H., & Clegg, J. M. (2014). Task-specific effects of ostracism on imitative fidelity in early childhood. Evolution and Human Behavior, 35(3), 204-210. doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.01.004

Whitehouse, H., & Lanman, J. A. (2014). The ties that bind usRitual, fusion, and identification. Current Anthropology, 55(6), 674-695. DOI: 10.1086/678698

Whitehouse, H., McQuinn, B., Buhrmester, M. D., & Swann, W. B. (2014). Brothers in arms: Libyan revolutionaries bond like family. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(50), 17783-17785. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1416284111

2013

Whitehouse, H. (2013). Religion, Cohesion, and Hostility  S. Clarke, R. Powell & J. Savulescu (eds.) Religion, Intolerance and Conflict: A Scientific and Conceptual Investigation, Oxford University Press, .

Seih, Y.T., Buhrmester, M.D., Lin, Y.C., Huang, C.L., Swann, W.B., Jr. (2013) Do people want to be flattered or understood? The cross-cultural universality of self-verification. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 49(1), 169-172. doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.09.004

Buhrmester, M.D. (2013) Understanding the cognitive and affective underpinnings of whistleblowing. Dissertation.

Whitehouse, H. (2013). Immortality, Creation, and Regulation: Updating Durkheim’s Theory of the Sacred Dimitris Xygalatas and Lee W. McCorkle (eds.) Mental Culture: Classical Social Theory and the Cognitive Science of Religion. Durham: Acumen.

Herrmann, P. A., Legare, C. H., Harris, P. L., & Whitehouse, H. (2013). Stick to the script: The effect of witnessing multiple actors on children’s imitation. Cognition, 129(3), 536-543. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.08.010

Jong, J. (2013).Implicit measures in the experimental psychology of religion. In G. Dawes, & J. Maclaurin. A new science of religion. New York, NY: Routledge, 65-78.

Jong, J. (2013). Explaining religion (away?): theism and the cognitive science of religion. Sophia, 52, 521—533. DOI 10.1007/s11841-012-0338-9

Jong, J. (2013). On faith and the fear of fatality: a review of recent research on death and deities. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion, 1, 193—214. doi:10.1558/jcsr.v1i2.193

Jong, J., Bluemke, M., & Halberstadt, J. (2013). Fear of death and supernatural beliefs: developing a new Supernatural Belief Scale to test the relationship. European Journal of Personality, 27, 495—506.

McKay, R., Herold, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2013). Catholic guilt? Recall of confession promotes prosocial behavior. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 3(3), 201-209. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2012.739410

Whitehouse, H. (2013). Ritual and acquiescence to authoritative discourse. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 3(1), 76-79. doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2012.736716

Whitehouse, H. (2013). Three wishes for the world (with comment). Cliodynamics, 4(2), 281–323. 

2012

Whitehouse, H. (2012). Ritual, Cognition, and Evolution  R. Sun (ed.) Grounding the Social Sciences in the Cognitive Sciences, Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Ritual, Cognition, and Evolution (PDF)

Whitehouse, H. (2012). Religious Universals and Religious Variation. In T. Biro & I. Czachesz (eds.) Changing Minds: Religion and cognition through the ages, Leuven: Peeters Publishers.

Buhrmester, M.D., Gómez, Á., Brooks, M.L., Morales, J.F., Fernández, S., et al. (2012). My group’s fate is my fate: Identity-fused Americans and Spaniards link personal life quality to outcome of 2008 elections. Basic and Applied Social Psychology 34 (6), 527-533. doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2012.732825

Swann, W.B., Jr. and  Buhrmester, M.D. (2012) Self as functional fiction. Social Cognition 30 (4), 415-430. 

Whitehouse, H. (2012). Cognition, Evolution and the Future of Social Anthropology R. Fardon, O. Harris, T. H. J. Marchand, C. Shore, V. Strang, R. A. Wilson & M. Nuttall (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Social Anthropology. SAGE Publications: London, 2, 234-242. dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446201077.n52

Whitehouse, H. & McQuinn, B. (2012). Ritual and Violence: Divergent Modes of Religiosity and Armed Struggle M. Juergensmeyer, M. Kitts & M. Jerryson (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Religion and Violence, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Whitehouse, H. (2012). Explaining Ritual Greg Dawes & James Maclaurin (eds.) A New Science of Religion, New York: Routledge.

Swann Jr., W.B., Jetten, J., Gomez, A., Whitehouse, H., & Bastian, B. (2012). When Group Membership Gets Personal: A Theory of Identity Fusion  Psychological Review, 119(3), 441-456. doi: 10.1037/a0028589

Dawes, G., & Jong, J. (2012). Defeating the Christian’s claim to warrant. Philo,15(2),127—144.

Jong, J., Halberstadt, J. & Bluemke, M. (2012). Foxhole atheism, revisited: The effects of mortality salience on explicit and implicit religious belief. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 983-989. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.03.005

Swann Jr., W. B., Jetten, J., Gómez, Á., Whitehouse, H., & Bastian, B. (2012). When group membership gets personal: A theory of identity fusion. Psychological Review, 119(3), 441-456. 

Whitehouse, H., & Cohen, E. (2012). Seeking a rapprochement between anthropology and the cognitive sciences: A problem-driven approach. Topics in Cognitive Science, 4 (3), 404-412. DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01203.x

2011

Whitehouse, H. (2011). Religious Reflexivity and Transmissive Frequency A. Michaels (ed.) Ritual Dynamics and the Science of Ritual, Wiesbeden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 25.

Whitehouse, H. (2011). The coexistence problem in psychology, anthropology, and evolutionary theory. Human Development, 54, 191-199. DOI: 10.1159/000329149

2010

Atkinson, Q. D., & Whitehouse, H. (2010). The cultural morphospace of ritual form: Examining modes of religiosity cross-culturally. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32(1), 50-62. doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.09.002

McKay, R., Efferson, C., Whitehouse, H., & Fehr, E. (2010). Wrath of God: Religious primes and punishment. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278, 1858-1863. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2125