How do people describe the effect of prolonged visual deprivation? What special experiences do they describe, and how are experiences connected to—or created by—their personal and cultural context? What is the precise role of the Dark therapy guides as authority figures concerning the form and the whole process of Dark therapy experience?
Jana‘s project will focus on qualitative field research of religious experiences related to the “alternative spirituality” cultural context under the predictive processing framework. She will be using “spiritual experience” as a respective kind of religious experience to describe experiences that are widely cultivated and highly valued in the specific context of alternative spirituality.
Importantly for the cognitive research on religious experience, it is crucial to investigate the effects of prolonged sensory deprivation within their cultural context as such analysis can productively address possible shortcomings in both the framework of predictive processing theory of religious experience and experimental practice.
In a new study published in Human Nature, LEVYNA was part of a team lead by A.K. Willard, studying how witchcraft beliefs affect social norms and behaviors. Specifically, researchers investigated whether witchcraft is regarded to be motivated by envy and how this notion influences community interactions. The findings show that, while witchcraft accusations were common, they were mostly directed at persons suspected of acting out of envy.
In an ethnographic survey-based study published in the journal Religions, D. Xygalatas and P. Maňo looked at variation in motivations for ritual practice and how it relates to the socioeconomic status of respondents. The findings indicate that whereas people of lower socioeconomic standing address more immediate concerns related to material security and safety in their ritual practices, people at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum tend to focus on the fulfillment of spiritual, social, or cultural needs.
