Radek Kundt

I am interested in the evolution of ritual behavior and intragroup cooperation.

I am assistant professor at the Department for the Study of Religions, Masaryk University, where I also act as the Head of the Department, and Research board member of HUME Lab – Laboratory for Experimental Humanities. Employing evolutionary models, I study religious behaviour in terms of intragroup cooperation and treat ritual as a communication technology. I argue that ritual behaviour evolved to afford group coordination harnessing the commitment signalling to enhance mutual trust and to identify free-riding individuals. Combining methods from experimental anthropology and experimental psychology, I conducted research on effects of religious priming on prosocial and moral behaviour. I have several years of laboratory and field research experience in Mauritius and Czech Republic.

My publications

Jerotijević, D., Kundt, R. (2026). The Evolutionary and Cognitive Perspectives in Research of Cultural and Social Phenomena. In: Toman, J., Havlíček, J., Hermann, T., Kundt, R., Švorcová, J. (eds) Culture Evolving. Biosemiotics, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-16124-6_7

Dvořáčková, T., Kundtová Klocová, E., Kundt, R. (2026). Appreciating Culture in Human Mating and Parenting Research: The Reproductive Functions of Religious Systems. In: Toman, J., Havlíček, J., Hermann, T., Kundt, R., Švorcová, J. (eds) Culture Evolving. Biosemiotics, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-16124-6_8

Toman, J., Havlíček, J., Hermann, T., Kundt, R. & Švorcová, J. Culture Evolving: Bridging Life Sciences and Humanities. Biosemiotics, Springer 2026.: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-16124-6

KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ, Eva; Radek KUNDT; Pushkar PURYAG and Martin LANG. Estimated costs and benefits of participation in an extreme ritual in Mauritius. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2025, vol. 7, e29, p. 1-17.: https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2025.10017.

EJOVA, Anastasia; Oliver SHEEHAN; Remco BOUCKAERT; Simon J. GREENHILL; Jan KRÁTKÝ; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ; Jakub CIGÁN; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Radek KUNDT; Joseph WATTS; Joseph BULBULIA; Quentin D. ATKINSON and Russell D. GRAY. Three evolutionary radiations shaped the evolution of global religious diversity. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 2025, vol. 7, No 1, p. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2025.10027.

LANG, Martin and Radek KUNDT. The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform. Religion, Brain & Behavior. 2024, vol. 14, No 4, p. 377-399. ISSN 2153-599X. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2023.2197977.

FIŠAR, Miloš; Lubomír CINGL; Tommaso REGGIANI; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Radek KUNDT; Jan KRÁTKÝ; Katarína KOSTOLANSKÁ; Petra BENCÚROVÁ; Marie KUDLIČKOVÁ PEŠKOVÁ and Klára MAREČKOVÁ. Ovulatory shift, hormonal changes, and no effects on incentivized decision-making. Journal of Economic Psychology. 2023, vol. 98, October, p. 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2023.102656.

Chvaja, R., Horský, J., Lang, M., & Kundt, R. (2023). Positive Association Between Ritual Performance and Perceived Objectivity of Moral Norms. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 33(2), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2022.2121454

Dimitris Xygalatas, Peter Maňo, Radek Kundt & Eva Kundtová Klocová. (2022). Rituals as signals of mate quality. Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 3, 100048.

Eva Kundtová Klocová, Martin Lang, Peter Maňo, Radek Kundt & Dimitris Xygalatas. (2022). Cigarettes for the dead: effects of sorcery beliefs on parochial prosociality in Mauritius. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 12(1–2), 116–131.

Xygalatas, D., Maňo, P., Bahna, V., Kundtová Klocová, E., Kundt, R., Lang, M. & Shaver, J. H. (2021). Social inequality and signaling in a costly ritual. Evolution and Human Behavior.

Ejova, A., Krátký, J., Kundtová Klocová, E., Kundt, R., Cigán, J., Kotherová, S., Bulbulia, J., & Gray, R. D. (2021). The awe-prosociality relationship: Evidence for the role of context. Religion, Brain & Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2021.1940254

Chvaja, R., Kundt, R., & Lang, M. (2020). The effects of synchrony on group moral hypocrisy. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 544589. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.544589

Řezníček, D. & Kundt, R. (2020). Violent CRED s toward out-groups increase trustworthiness: Preliminary experimental evidence. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 20(3-4), 262-281. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12340084

Nichols, A. D., Lang, M., Kavanagh, C., Kundt, R., Yamada, J., Ariely, D., Mitkidis, P. (2020). Replicating and extending the effects of auditory religious cues on dishonest behavior. PLoS ONE, 15(8), e0237007. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237007

Lang, M. & Kundt, R. (2020). Evolutionary, Cognitive, and Contextual Approaches to the Study of Religious Systems. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 32(1), 1-46. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700682-12341466

Xygalatas, D., Khan, S., Lang, M., Kundt, R., Kundtová-Klocová, E., Krátký, J., & Shaver, J. (2019). Effects of Extreme Ritual Practices on Psychophysiological Well-Being. Current Anthropology. https://doi.org/10.1086/705665

Shaver, J. H., Lang, M., Krátký, J., Kundtová Klocová, E., Kundt, R.,& Xygalatas, D. (2018). The Boundaries of Trust: Cross-Religious and Cross-Ethnic Field Experiments in Mauritius. Evolutionary Psychology, 1-15. doi:10.1177/1474704918817644

Xygalatas, D., Kotherová, S., Maňo, P., Kundt, R., Cigán, J., Kundtová Klocová, E. & Lang, M. (2017). Big Gods in Small Places: The Random Allocation Game in Mauritius. Religion, Brain & Behavior. doi:10.1080/2153599X.2016.1267033.

Lang, M. & Kundt, R. (2017). Can predictive coding explain past experiences? Religion, Brain & Behavior, doi: 10.1080/2153599X.2016.1150332.

Xygalatas, D., Kundtová Klocová, E., Cigán, J., Kundt, R., Maňo, P., Kotherová, S., Mitkidis, P., Wallot, S. E. & Kanovský, M. (2016). Location, location, location: Effects of cross-religious primes on prosocial behaviour. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 26/4, 304-319. doi:10.1080/10508619.2015.1097287.

Lang, M., Mitkidis, P., Kundt, R., Nichols, A., Krajčíková, L. & Xygalatas, D. (2016). Music As a Sacred Cue? Effects of Religious Music on Moral Behavior. Frontiers in Psychology, 7/814, 1-13. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00814.

Reddish, P., Tok, P. & Kundt, R. (2016). Religious Cognition and Behaviour in Autism: The Role of Mentalizing. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 26/2, 95-112 doi: 10.1080/10508619.2014.1003518.

Kundt, R. (2015). Contemporary Evolutionary Theories of Culture and the Study of Religion. London: Bloomsbury Academic.