The Cultural Dynamics Lab

Religious systems show variation between groups, are transmitted and modified over generations, and differ in their ability to gain and retain members. In other words, religions exhibit the key characteristics of an evolutionary system. 

We build large-scale cross-cultural databases and use models from evolutionary biology to test theories about the functions and effects of religious systems. Examples of our research includes studies on the emergence of religious specialists in hunter-gatherer societies, the co-evolution of human sacrifice and social inequality, and the mechanisms by which Christianity has spread throughout the Pacific

Humans regularly reason about mental states such as beliefs, emotions, intentions, and desires. This capacity, known as mentalising or theory of mind, is foundational to human social learning, empathy, cooperation, and communication. 

We use text and language analysis, as well as experiments to study the role that culture plays in mentalising. Examples of our projects include studies showing that the meaning of emotion concepts vary widely across world languages, experiments investigating the cognitive basis of false belief attributions in preschoolers, and ongoing research testing claims about opacity of mind in Pacific languages.  

Joseph Watts | Lab Director

Dr. Joseph Watts is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Canterbury. More information about Dr Watts is available on his personal website. 

Esme Maillard | Masters Student
 

Esme is currently developing a new scales to test whether Credibility Enhancing Displays (CREDs) help explain the social transmission of conspiracy beliefs. .

Tom Leslie | Honours Student

Tom is developing a Turning-inspired test of the theory of mind competencies of large language models, such as ChatGPT. 

Navdeep Kaur | PhD Student (Otago)

Navdeep’s thesis focuses on testing whether historically available materials constrain the representation of religious imagery and structures, and how these constraints might influence religious belief and behaviour.

COURTNEY MATTHEWS | PhD Student

Courtney is investigating the social processes of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), and how these group dynamics connect to and impact the lives of their players.