Why and how people perceive special anthropomorphic agents? How do gods and spirits become real for them? In her research, Jana will focus on the role of culture, which contextually specifies the forms that the special anthropomorphic agents can take in a given environment.
Relying on experimental manipulation, Jana plans to investigate how situational context and priming transform the anthropomorphic agents’ forms and the intensity of the encounter’s experience for people in a state of sensory deprivation. She expects that genetically inherited intuitions on the presence of predators and fear of them in combination with the sensory deprivation and semantic priming will lead to more frequent and more culturally specific experiences of special anthropomorphic agents.
In a paper published in the journal Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, Eva Kundtová Klocová and Dan Řezníček collaborated with an international research team lead by Valerie van Mulukom to study worldviews of nonbelievers.
In the journal Slovak Ethnology, Peter Maňo and Dimitris Xygalatas published an article focused on the motivations to partake in rituals.
