California State University, Northridge

Assistant Professor of Central American Studies

John worked at California State University, Northridge as a Assistant Professor of Central American Studies

California State University, Northridge

Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

John worked at California State University, Northridge as a Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

UCSD Program for the Study of Religion

Reader/Teaching Assistant

John worked at UCSD Program for the Study of Religion as a Reader/Teaching Assistant

Aarhus University (Denmark)

Research Fellow, TESIS Network

John worked at Aarhus University (Denmark) as a Research Fellow, TESIS Network

Eleanor Roosevelt College

Teaching Assistant

"Making of the Modern World" (Six quarter sequence that combines training in composition with an interdisciplinary overview of world civilization)

UCSD Human Development Program

Teaching Assistant

John worked at UCSD Human Development Program as a Teaching Assistant

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Journal Article) The Co-Essential Self

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Mesoamerican cosmologies have developed ideas about self using change-in-time as the principal orientation. These approaches conceive existence to be a phenomenon of temporal organization, which is radically different in assumptions and consequences from a metaphysics based on substances. The chief consequence of this is a continuity between human beings-in-time and other living and non-living entities. One’s character and destiny are of a kind with specific animals, meteorological phenomena, places, and objects. The qualities of the timed world and the qualities of the person are one and the same. Understanding oneself, one’s role, and living well results from properly orienting oneself to this metaphysical order by embracing one’s “co-essence.”

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Journal Article) The Co-Essential Self

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Mesoamerican cosmologies have developed ideas about self using change-in-time as the principal orientation. These approaches conceive existence to be a phenomenon of temporal organization, which is radically different in assumptions and consequences from a metaphysics based on substances. The chief consequence of this is a continuity between human beings-in-time and other living and non-living entities. One’s character and destiny are of a kind with specific animals, meteorological phenomena, places, and objects. The qualities of the timed world and the qualities of the person are one and the same. Understanding oneself, one’s role, and living well results from properly orienting oneself to this metaphysical order by embracing one’s “co-essence.”

(Journal Article) Doing Rituals: An Enactivist Reading of Durkheim's Elementary Forms

Intellectica 63(1):37-48

Ritual theory has undergone a significant revision over the last few decades. Whereas ritual was once discussed mainly in terms of symbolism, now the importance of ritual action is foregrounded. Many theorists consider doing rituals, rather than inferring theological subtleties supposedly implied by them, to be paramount. However, this school of thought should not be interpreted as marginalizing meaning as a fundamental category, though a basic reorientation is required: meaning comes predominantly from ritual enaction rather than from ideas or beliefs thought to be encoded and expressed in ritual. In this article, ritual action and enaction are juxtaposed in order to arrive at a set of productive comparisons between the two frameworks. As in the paradigm of enaction, it is here suggested that ritual is an important means of “bringing forth a world.”

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Journal Article) The Co-Essential Self

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Mesoamerican cosmologies have developed ideas about self using change-in-time as the principal orientation. These approaches conceive existence to be a phenomenon of temporal organization, which is radically different in assumptions and consequences from a metaphysics based on substances. The chief consequence of this is a continuity between human beings-in-time and other living and non-living entities. One’s character and destiny are of a kind with specific animals, meteorological phenomena, places, and objects. The qualities of the timed world and the qualities of the person are one and the same. Understanding oneself, one’s role, and living well results from properly orienting oneself to this metaphysical order by embracing one’s “co-essence.”

(Journal Article) Doing Rituals: An Enactivist Reading of Durkheim's Elementary Forms

Intellectica 63(1):37-48

Ritual theory has undergone a significant revision over the last few decades. Whereas ritual was once discussed mainly in terms of symbolism, now the importance of ritual action is foregrounded. Many theorists consider doing rituals, rather than inferring theological subtleties supposedly implied by them, to be paramount. However, this school of thought should not be interpreted as marginalizing meaning as a fundamental category, though a basic reorientation is required: meaning comes predominantly from ritual enaction rather than from ideas or beliefs thought to be encoded and expressed in ritual. In this article, ritual action and enaction are juxtaposed in order to arrive at a set of productive comparisons between the two frameworks. As in the paradigm of enaction, it is here suggested that ritual is an important means of “bringing forth a world.”

(Journal Article) Building trust: Heart rate synchrony and arousal during joint action increased by public goods game

Physiology & Behavior

The physiological processes underlying trust are a subject of great interest in the behavioral sciences. But very little is known about how trust modulates the affective link between individuals. We show that trust has an effect on heart rate arousal and synchrony, a result consistent with research on joint action and experimental economics. We engaged participants in a series of joint action tasks which, for one group of participants, was interleaved with a Public Goods Game, all while measuring their heart synchrony and arousal. We found that the introduction of the economic game shifted participants' attention to the dynamics of their interpersonal engagement. This was followed by increased arousal and synchrony of heart rate profiles. Also, the degree of heart rate synchrony was predictive of participants' expectations about their partners in the study. We conclude that these changes in physiology and behavior are shaped by evaluation of others' behavior and indicate important aspects of the trust building process.

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Journal Article) The Co-Essential Self

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Mesoamerican cosmologies have developed ideas about self using change-in-time as the principal orientation. These approaches conceive existence to be a phenomenon of temporal organization, which is radically different in assumptions and consequences from a metaphysics based on substances. The chief consequence of this is a continuity between human beings-in-time and other living and non-living entities. One’s character and destiny are of a kind with specific animals, meteorological phenomena, places, and objects. The qualities of the timed world and the qualities of the person are one and the same. Understanding oneself, one’s role, and living well results from properly orienting oneself to this metaphysical order by embracing one’s “co-essence.”

(Journal Article) Doing Rituals: An Enactivist Reading of Durkheim's Elementary Forms

Intellectica 63(1):37-48

Ritual theory has undergone a significant revision over the last few decades. Whereas ritual was once discussed mainly in terms of symbolism, now the importance of ritual action is foregrounded. Many theorists consider doing rituals, rather than inferring theological subtleties supposedly implied by them, to be paramount. However, this school of thought should not be interpreted as marginalizing meaning as a fundamental category, though a basic reorientation is required: meaning comes predominantly from ritual enaction rather than from ideas or beliefs thought to be encoded and expressed in ritual. In this article, ritual action and enaction are juxtaposed in order to arrive at a set of productive comparisons between the two frameworks. As in the paradigm of enaction, it is here suggested that ritual is an important means of “bringing forth a world.”

(Journal Article) Building trust: Heart rate synchrony and arousal during joint action increased by public goods game

Physiology & Behavior

The physiological processes underlying trust are a subject of great interest in the behavioral sciences. But very little is known about how trust modulates the affective link between individuals. We show that trust has an effect on heart rate arousal and synchrony, a result consistent with research on joint action and experimental economics. We engaged participants in a series of joint action tasks which, for one group of participants, was interleaved with a Public Goods Game, all while measuring their heart synchrony and arousal. We found that the introduction of the economic game shifted participants' attention to the dynamics of their interpersonal engagement. This was followed by increased arousal and synchrony of heart rate profiles. Also, the degree of heart rate synchrony was predictive of participants' expectations about their partners in the study. We conclude that these changes in physiology and behavior are shaped by evaluation of others' behavior and indicate important aspects of the trust building process.

(Encyclopedia Article) Native American Religions

Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, Anne L.C. Runehov & Lluis Oviedo, eds. New York: Springer Reference.

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Journal Article) The Co-Essential Self

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Mesoamerican cosmologies have developed ideas about self using change-in-time as the principal orientation. These approaches conceive existence to be a phenomenon of temporal organization, which is radically different in assumptions and consequences from a metaphysics based on substances. The chief consequence of this is a continuity between human beings-in-time and other living and non-living entities. One’s character and destiny are of a kind with specific animals, meteorological phenomena, places, and objects. The qualities of the timed world and the qualities of the person are one and the same. Understanding oneself, one’s role, and living well results from properly orienting oneself to this metaphysical order by embracing one’s “co-essence.”

(Journal Article) Doing Rituals: An Enactivist Reading of Durkheim's Elementary Forms

Intellectica 63(1):37-48

Ritual theory has undergone a significant revision over the last few decades. Whereas ritual was once discussed mainly in terms of symbolism, now the importance of ritual action is foregrounded. Many theorists consider doing rituals, rather than inferring theological subtleties supposedly implied by them, to be paramount. However, this school of thought should not be interpreted as marginalizing meaning as a fundamental category, though a basic reorientation is required: meaning comes predominantly from ritual enaction rather than from ideas or beliefs thought to be encoded and expressed in ritual. In this article, ritual action and enaction are juxtaposed in order to arrive at a set of productive comparisons between the two frameworks. As in the paradigm of enaction, it is here suggested that ritual is an important means of “bringing forth a world.”

(Journal Article) Building trust: Heart rate synchrony and arousal during joint action increased by public goods game

Physiology & Behavior

The physiological processes underlying trust are a subject of great interest in the behavioral sciences. But very little is known about how trust modulates the affective link between individuals. We show that trust has an effect on heart rate arousal and synchrony, a result consistent with research on joint action and experimental economics. We engaged participants in a series of joint action tasks which, for one group of participants, was interleaved with a Public Goods Game, all while measuring their heart synchrony and arousal. We found that the introduction of the economic game shifted participants' attention to the dynamics of their interpersonal engagement. This was followed by increased arousal and synchrony of heart rate profiles. Also, the degree of heart rate synchrony was predictive of participants' expectations about their partners in the study. We conclude that these changes in physiology and behavior are shaped by evaluation of others' behavior and indicate important aspects of the trust building process.

(Encyclopedia Article) Native American Religions

Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, Anne L.C. Runehov & Lluis Oviedo, eds. New York: Springer Reference.

(Book Chapter) Tongues of Men and Angels: Assessing the Neural Correlates of Glossolalia

Religion and the Body: Modern Science and the Construction of Religious Meaning, David Cave and Rebecca Sachs Norris, eds. Leiden: Brill.

The accelerating popularity of Charismatic Christianity has brought with it a host of new sensibilities and ritual practices. Glossolalia, or ‘speaking in tongues,’ stands out among these as a particularly dramatic innovation. Typically staid churchgoers, once touched by the Holy Spirit, begin to utter strings of syllables that some claim to be the ‘language of angels.’ Recent neuroimaging studies have highlighted diffferences in the brains of subjects performing glossolalia in comparison to those same subjects singing a Church hymn. An investigation of the neural correlates of glossolalia highlights the importance of studying the bodily dimensions of ritual practice. But an informed analysis does not reduce social and behavioral complexities to physiological changes; rather, juxtaposing the correlates of human action from a variety of perspectives—in this case the social, the bodily, and the behavioral—suggests productive new approaches to the study of ritual. Having received the attentions of numerous scholars during the 20th and 21st centuries, glossolalia provides an excellent test case for this correlational approach to human action.

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Journal Article) The Co-Essential Self

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Mesoamerican cosmologies have developed ideas about self using change-in-time as the principal orientation. These approaches conceive existence to be a phenomenon of temporal organization, which is radically different in assumptions and consequences from a metaphysics based on substances. The chief consequence of this is a continuity between human beings-in-time and other living and non-living entities. One’s character and destiny are of a kind with specific animals, meteorological phenomena, places, and objects. The qualities of the timed world and the qualities of the person are one and the same. Understanding oneself, one’s role, and living well results from properly orienting oneself to this metaphysical order by embracing one’s “co-essence.”

(Journal Article) Doing Rituals: An Enactivist Reading of Durkheim's Elementary Forms

Intellectica 63(1):37-48

Ritual theory has undergone a significant revision over the last few decades. Whereas ritual was once discussed mainly in terms of symbolism, now the importance of ritual action is foregrounded. Many theorists consider doing rituals, rather than inferring theological subtleties supposedly implied by them, to be paramount. However, this school of thought should not be interpreted as marginalizing meaning as a fundamental category, though a basic reorientation is required: meaning comes predominantly from ritual enaction rather than from ideas or beliefs thought to be encoded and expressed in ritual. In this article, ritual action and enaction are juxtaposed in order to arrive at a set of productive comparisons between the two frameworks. As in the paradigm of enaction, it is here suggested that ritual is an important means of “bringing forth a world.”

(Journal Article) Building trust: Heart rate synchrony and arousal during joint action increased by public goods game

Physiology & Behavior

The physiological processes underlying trust are a subject of great interest in the behavioral sciences. But very little is known about how trust modulates the affective link between individuals. We show that trust has an effect on heart rate arousal and synchrony, a result consistent with research on joint action and experimental economics. We engaged participants in a series of joint action tasks which, for one group of participants, was interleaved with a Public Goods Game, all while measuring their heart synchrony and arousal. We found that the introduction of the economic game shifted participants' attention to the dynamics of their interpersonal engagement. This was followed by increased arousal and synchrony of heart rate profiles. Also, the degree of heart rate synchrony was predictive of participants' expectations about their partners in the study. We conclude that these changes in physiology and behavior are shaped by evaluation of others' behavior and indicate important aspects of the trust building process.

(Encyclopedia Article) Native American Religions

Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, Anne L.C. Runehov & Lluis Oviedo, eds. New York: Springer Reference.

(Book Chapter) Tongues of Men and Angels: Assessing the Neural Correlates of Glossolalia

Religion and the Body: Modern Science and the Construction of Religious Meaning, David Cave and Rebecca Sachs Norris, eds. Leiden: Brill.

The accelerating popularity of Charismatic Christianity has brought with it a host of new sensibilities and ritual practices. Glossolalia, or ‘speaking in tongues,’ stands out among these as a particularly dramatic innovation. Typically staid churchgoers, once touched by the Holy Spirit, begin to utter strings of syllables that some claim to be the ‘language of angels.’ Recent neuroimaging studies have highlighted diffferences in the brains of subjects performing glossolalia in comparison to those same subjects singing a Church hymn. An investigation of the neural correlates of glossolalia highlights the importance of studying the bodily dimensions of ritual practice. But an informed analysis does not reduce social and behavioral complexities to physiological changes; rather, juxtaposing the correlates of human action from a variety of perspectives—in this case the social, the bodily, and the behavioral—suggests productive new approaches to the study of ritual. Having received the attentions of numerous scholars during the 20th and 21st centuries, glossolalia provides an excellent test case for this correlational approach to human action.

(Journal Article) Culture's Building Blocks: Investigating Cultural Evolution in a LEGO Construction Task

Frontiers in Psychology 5 (1017)

One of the most essential but theoretically vexing issues regarding the notion of culture is that of cultural evolution and transmission: how a group’s accumulated solutions to invariant challenges develop and persevere over time. But at the moment, the notion of applying evolutionary theory to culture remains little more than a suggestive trope. Whereas the modern synthesis of evolutionary theory has provided an encompassing scientific framework for the selection and transmission of biological adaptations, a convincing theory of cultural evolution has yet to emerge. One of the greatest challenges for theorists is identifying the appropriate time scales and units of analysis in order to reduce the intractably large and complex phenomenon of “culture” into its component “building blocks.” In this paper, we present a model for scientifically investigating cultural processes by analyzing the ways people develop conventions in a series of LEGO construction tasks. The data revealed a surprising pattern in the selection of building bricks as well as features of car design across consecutive building sessions. Our findings support a novel methodology for studying the development and transmission of culture through the microcosm of interactive LEGO design and assembly.

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Journal Article) The Co-Essential Self

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Mesoamerican cosmologies have developed ideas about self using change-in-time as the principal orientation. These approaches conceive existence to be a phenomenon of temporal organization, which is radically different in assumptions and consequences from a metaphysics based on substances. The chief consequence of this is a continuity between human beings-in-time and other living and non-living entities. One’s character and destiny are of a kind with specific animals, meteorological phenomena, places, and objects. The qualities of the timed world and the qualities of the person are one and the same. Understanding oneself, one’s role, and living well results from properly orienting oneself to this metaphysical order by embracing one’s “co-essence.”

(Journal Article) Doing Rituals: An Enactivist Reading of Durkheim's Elementary Forms

Intellectica 63(1):37-48

Ritual theory has undergone a significant revision over the last few decades. Whereas ritual was once discussed mainly in terms of symbolism, now the importance of ritual action is foregrounded. Many theorists consider doing rituals, rather than inferring theological subtleties supposedly implied by them, to be paramount. However, this school of thought should not be interpreted as marginalizing meaning as a fundamental category, though a basic reorientation is required: meaning comes predominantly from ritual enaction rather than from ideas or beliefs thought to be encoded and expressed in ritual. In this article, ritual action and enaction are juxtaposed in order to arrive at a set of productive comparisons between the two frameworks. As in the paradigm of enaction, it is here suggested that ritual is an important means of “bringing forth a world.”

(Journal Article) Building trust: Heart rate synchrony and arousal during joint action increased by public goods game

Physiology & Behavior

The physiological processes underlying trust are a subject of great interest in the behavioral sciences. But very little is known about how trust modulates the affective link between individuals. We show that trust has an effect on heart rate arousal and synchrony, a result consistent with research on joint action and experimental economics. We engaged participants in a series of joint action tasks which, for one group of participants, was interleaved with a Public Goods Game, all while measuring their heart synchrony and arousal. We found that the introduction of the economic game shifted participants' attention to the dynamics of their interpersonal engagement. This was followed by increased arousal and synchrony of heart rate profiles. Also, the degree of heart rate synchrony was predictive of participants' expectations about their partners in the study. We conclude that these changes in physiology and behavior are shaped by evaluation of others' behavior and indicate important aspects of the trust building process.

(Encyclopedia Article) Native American Religions

Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, Anne L.C. Runehov & Lluis Oviedo, eds. New York: Springer Reference.

(Book Chapter) Tongues of Men and Angels: Assessing the Neural Correlates of Glossolalia

Religion and the Body: Modern Science and the Construction of Religious Meaning, David Cave and Rebecca Sachs Norris, eds. Leiden: Brill.

The accelerating popularity of Charismatic Christianity has brought with it a host of new sensibilities and ritual practices. Glossolalia, or ‘speaking in tongues,’ stands out among these as a particularly dramatic innovation. Typically staid churchgoers, once touched by the Holy Spirit, begin to utter strings of syllables that some claim to be the ‘language of angels.’ Recent neuroimaging studies have highlighted diffferences in the brains of subjects performing glossolalia in comparison to those same subjects singing a Church hymn. An investigation of the neural correlates of glossolalia highlights the importance of studying the bodily dimensions of ritual practice. But an informed analysis does not reduce social and behavioral complexities to physiological changes; rather, juxtaposing the correlates of human action from a variety of perspectives—in this case the social, the bodily, and the behavioral—suggests productive new approaches to the study of ritual. Having received the attentions of numerous scholars during the 20th and 21st centuries, glossolalia provides an excellent test case for this correlational approach to human action.

(Journal Article) Culture's Building Blocks: Investigating Cultural Evolution in a LEGO Construction Task

Frontiers in Psychology 5 (1017)

One of the most essential but theoretically vexing issues regarding the notion of culture is that of cultural evolution and transmission: how a group’s accumulated solutions to invariant challenges develop and persevere over time. But at the moment, the notion of applying evolutionary theory to culture remains little more than a suggestive trope. Whereas the modern synthesis of evolutionary theory has provided an encompassing scientific framework for the selection and transmission of biological adaptations, a convincing theory of cultural evolution has yet to emerge. One of the greatest challenges for theorists is identifying the appropriate time scales and units of analysis in order to reduce the intractably large and complex phenomenon of “culture” into its component “building blocks.” In this paper, we present a model for scientifically investigating cultural processes by analyzing the ways people develop conventions in a series of LEGO construction tasks. The data revealed a surprising pattern in the selection of building bricks as well as features of car design across consecutive building sessions. Our findings support a novel methodology for studying the development and transmission of culture through the microcosm of interactive LEGO design and assembly.

(Book Chapter) Materializing Mind: The Role of Objects in Cognition and Culture

Perspectives on Social Ontology and Social Cognition, Mattia Gallotti & John Michael, eds. New York: Springer.

If mind is investigated as the set of interactions that accomplish a cognitive task, that is, if mind is more than that which occurs inside the head, then how does the interplay of biological and environmental resources produce human cognition? Informed by active externalism, joint action, and distributed cognition, we review and classify a set of cognitive processes mediated by material representations. Specifically, we ask how—in a range of everyday cognitive and cultural practices—we employ objects (1) to scaffold memory, (2) to alter cognitive complexity, (3) to facilitate epis-temic experimentation, (4) to enable the division of cognitive labor, (5) to promote confidence and trust, (6) to consolidate social structure, and (7) to support dialogical coupling. We conclude that through cultural practices the stable, “manipulable”, and public properties of objects have come to afford unprecedented modes of extended and distributed cognition.

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Journal Article) The Co-Essential Self

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Mesoamerican cosmologies have developed ideas about self using change-in-time as the principal orientation. These approaches conceive existence to be a phenomenon of temporal organization, which is radically different in assumptions and consequences from a metaphysics based on substances. The chief consequence of this is a continuity between human beings-in-time and other living and non-living entities. One’s character and destiny are of a kind with specific animals, meteorological phenomena, places, and objects. The qualities of the timed world and the qualities of the person are one and the same. Understanding oneself, one’s role, and living well results from properly orienting oneself to this metaphysical order by embracing one’s “co-essence.”

(Journal Article) Doing Rituals: An Enactivist Reading of Durkheim's Elementary Forms

Intellectica 63(1):37-48

Ritual theory has undergone a significant revision over the last few decades. Whereas ritual was once discussed mainly in terms of symbolism, now the importance of ritual action is foregrounded. Many theorists consider doing rituals, rather than inferring theological subtleties supposedly implied by them, to be paramount. However, this school of thought should not be interpreted as marginalizing meaning as a fundamental category, though a basic reorientation is required: meaning comes predominantly from ritual enaction rather than from ideas or beliefs thought to be encoded and expressed in ritual. In this article, ritual action and enaction are juxtaposed in order to arrive at a set of productive comparisons between the two frameworks. As in the paradigm of enaction, it is here suggested that ritual is an important means of “bringing forth a world.”

(Journal Article) Building trust: Heart rate synchrony and arousal during joint action increased by public goods game

Physiology & Behavior

The physiological processes underlying trust are a subject of great interest in the behavioral sciences. But very little is known about how trust modulates the affective link between individuals. We show that trust has an effect on heart rate arousal and synchrony, a result consistent with research on joint action and experimental economics. We engaged participants in a series of joint action tasks which, for one group of participants, was interleaved with a Public Goods Game, all while measuring their heart synchrony and arousal. We found that the introduction of the economic game shifted participants' attention to the dynamics of their interpersonal engagement. This was followed by increased arousal and synchrony of heart rate profiles. Also, the degree of heart rate synchrony was predictive of participants' expectations about their partners in the study. We conclude that these changes in physiology and behavior are shaped by evaluation of others' behavior and indicate important aspects of the trust building process.

(Encyclopedia Article) Native American Religions

Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, Anne L.C. Runehov & Lluis Oviedo, eds. New York: Springer Reference.

(Book Chapter) Tongues of Men and Angels: Assessing the Neural Correlates of Glossolalia

Religion and the Body: Modern Science and the Construction of Religious Meaning, David Cave and Rebecca Sachs Norris, eds. Leiden: Brill.

The accelerating popularity of Charismatic Christianity has brought with it a host of new sensibilities and ritual practices. Glossolalia, or ‘speaking in tongues,’ stands out among these as a particularly dramatic innovation. Typically staid churchgoers, once touched by the Holy Spirit, begin to utter strings of syllables that some claim to be the ‘language of angels.’ Recent neuroimaging studies have highlighted diffferences in the brains of subjects performing glossolalia in comparison to those same subjects singing a Church hymn. An investigation of the neural correlates of glossolalia highlights the importance of studying the bodily dimensions of ritual practice. But an informed analysis does not reduce social and behavioral complexities to physiological changes; rather, juxtaposing the correlates of human action from a variety of perspectives—in this case the social, the bodily, and the behavioral—suggests productive new approaches to the study of ritual. Having received the attentions of numerous scholars during the 20th and 21st centuries, glossolalia provides an excellent test case for this correlational approach to human action.

(Journal Article) Culture's Building Blocks: Investigating Cultural Evolution in a LEGO Construction Task

Frontiers in Psychology 5 (1017)

One of the most essential but theoretically vexing issues regarding the notion of culture is that of cultural evolution and transmission: how a group’s accumulated solutions to invariant challenges develop and persevere over time. But at the moment, the notion of applying evolutionary theory to culture remains little more than a suggestive trope. Whereas the modern synthesis of evolutionary theory has provided an encompassing scientific framework for the selection and transmission of biological adaptations, a convincing theory of cultural evolution has yet to emerge. One of the greatest challenges for theorists is identifying the appropriate time scales and units of analysis in order to reduce the intractably large and complex phenomenon of “culture” into its component “building blocks.” In this paper, we present a model for scientifically investigating cultural processes by analyzing the ways people develop conventions in a series of LEGO construction tasks. The data revealed a surprising pattern in the selection of building bricks as well as features of car design across consecutive building sessions. Our findings support a novel methodology for studying the development and transmission of culture through the microcosm of interactive LEGO design and assembly.

(Book Chapter) Materializing Mind: The Role of Objects in Cognition and Culture

Perspectives on Social Ontology and Social Cognition, Mattia Gallotti & John Michael, eds. New York: Springer.

If mind is investigated as the set of interactions that accomplish a cognitive task, that is, if mind is more than that which occurs inside the head, then how does the interplay of biological and environmental resources produce human cognition? Informed by active externalism, joint action, and distributed cognition, we review and classify a set of cognitive processes mediated by material representations. Specifically, we ask how—in a range of everyday cognitive and cultural practices—we employ objects (1) to scaffold memory, (2) to alter cognitive complexity, (3) to facilitate epis-temic experimentation, (4) to enable the division of cognitive labor, (5) to promote confidence and trust, (6) to consolidate social structure, and (7) to support dialogical coupling. We conclude that through cultural practices the stable, “manipulable”, and public properties of objects have come to afford unprecedented modes of extended and distributed cognition.

(Book Review) Judaic Technologies of the Word by Gabriel Levy

NUMEN 61.4

(Book Chapter) Stones of Light: The Use of Crystals in Maya Divination

Manufactured Light: Mirrors in the Mesoamerican Realm, Emiliano Gallaga & Marc Blainey, eds. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.

In this chapter, I aim to bridge the rewarding archaeological contributions from the earlier part of this volume to ethnographic work performed among contemporary Mayas, particularly as informed by ritual specialists. In considering the ritual use of quartz crystals by living Mayas we may gain insights regarding the use of pyrite mirrors by their revered ancestors. Though the direct historical approach poses its risks, it may lead to revelations yet. In addition to reviewing some of the ethnographic data, I also take pointers from Saunders, Taube, Blainey, and others in promoting a paradigm of functional analysis that situate archaeological and ethnographic data without projecting a particularism onto Maya contexts that may be inappropriate given the local epistemologies. Finally, I draw from cognitive science and religious studies to present a theory regarding the popularity and importance of quartz crystals in ritual activity, not only among the Maya, but worldwide. It is hoped that the analyses presented not only clarify ideas regarding quartz crystals in divination, but more broadly address the nature and importance of scrying in Maya religion.

(Journal Article) The Co-Essential Self

Journal of Consciousness Studies

Mesoamerican cosmologies have developed ideas about self using change-in-time as the principal orientation. These approaches conceive existence to be a phenomenon of temporal organization, which is radically different in assumptions and consequences from a metaphysics based on substances. The chief consequence of this is a continuity between human beings-in-time and other living and non-living entities. One’s character and destiny are of a kind with specific animals, meteorological phenomena, places, and objects. The qualities of the timed world and the qualities of the person are one and the same. Understanding oneself, one’s role, and living well results from properly orienting oneself to this metaphysical order by embracing one’s “co-essence.”

(Journal Article) Doing Rituals: An Enactivist Reading of Durkheim's Elementary Forms

Intellectica 63(1):37-48

Ritual theory has undergone a significant revision over the last few decades. Whereas ritual was once discussed mainly in terms of symbolism, now the importance of ritual action is foregrounded. Many theorists consider doing rituals, rather than inferring theological subtleties supposedly implied by them, to be paramount. However, this school of thought should not be interpreted as marginalizing meaning as a fundamental category, though a basic reorientation is required: meaning comes predominantly from ritual enaction rather than from ideas or beliefs thought to be encoded and expressed in ritual. In this article, ritual action and enaction are juxtaposed in order to arrive at a set of productive comparisons between the two frameworks. As in the paradigm of enaction, it is here suggested that ritual is an important means of “bringing forth a world.”

(Journal Article) Building trust: Heart rate synchrony and arousal during joint action increased by public goods game

Physiology & Behavior

The physiological processes underlying trust are a subject of great interest in the behavioral sciences. But very little is known about how trust modulates the affective link between individuals. We show that trust has an effect on heart rate arousal and synchrony, a result consistent with research on joint action and experimental economics. We engaged participants in a series of joint action tasks which, for one group of participants, was interleaved with a Public Goods Game, all while measuring their heart synchrony and arousal. We found that the introduction of the economic game shifted participants' attention to the dynamics of their interpersonal engagement. This was followed by increased arousal and synchrony of heart rate profiles. Also, the degree of heart rate synchrony was predictive of participants' expectations about their partners in the study. We conclude that these changes in physiology and behavior are shaped by evaluation of others' behavior and indicate important aspects of the trust building process.

(Encyclopedia Article) Native American Religions

Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, Anne L.C. Runehov & Lluis Oviedo, eds. New York: Springer Reference.

(Book Chapter) Tongues of Men and Angels: Assessing the Neural Correlates of Glossolalia

Religion and the Body: Modern Science and the Construction of Religious Meaning, David Cave and Rebecca Sachs Norris, eds. Leiden: Brill.

The accelerating popularity of Charismatic Christianity has brought with it a host of new sensibilities and ritual practices. Glossolalia, or ‘speaking in tongues,’ stands out among these as a particularly dramatic innovation. Typically staid churchgoers, once touched by the Holy Spirit, begin to utter strings of syllables that some claim to be the ‘language of angels.’ Recent neuroimaging studies have highlighted diffferences in the brains of subjects performing glossolalia in comparison to those same subjects singing a Church hymn. An investigation of the neural correlates of glossolalia highlights the importance of studying the bodily dimensions of ritual practice. But an informed analysis does not reduce social and behavioral complexities to physiological changes; rather, juxtaposing the correlates of human action from a variety of perspectives—in this case the social, the bodily, and the behavioral—suggests productive new approaches to the study of ritual. Having received the attentions of numerous scholars during the 20th and 21st centuries, glossolalia provides an excellent test case for this correlational approach to human action.

(Journal Article) Culture's Building Blocks: Investigating Cultural Evolution in a LEGO Construction Task

Frontiers in Psychology 5 (1017)

One of the most essential but theoretically vexing issues regarding the notion of culture is that of cultural evolution and transmission: how a group’s accumulated solutions to invariant challenges develop and persevere over time. But at the moment, the notion of applying evolutionary theory to culture remains little more than a suggestive trope. Whereas the modern synthesis of evolutionary theory has provided an encompassing scientific framework for the selection and transmission of biological adaptations, a convincing theory of cultural evolution has yet to emerge. One of the greatest challenges for theorists is identifying the appropriate time scales and units of analysis in order to reduce the intractably large and complex phenomenon of “culture” into its component “building blocks.” In this paper, we present a model for scientifically investigating cultural processes by analyzing the ways people develop conventions in a series of LEGO construction tasks. The data revealed a surprising pattern in the selection of building bricks as well as features of car design across consecutive building sessions. Our findings support a novel methodology for studying the development and transmission of culture through the microcosm of interactive LEGO design and assembly.

(Book Chapter) Materializing Mind: The Role of Objects in Cognition and Culture

Perspectives on Social Ontology and Social Cognition, Mattia Gallotti & John Michael, eds. New York: Springer.

If mind is investigated as the set of interactions that accomplish a cognitive task, that is, if mind is more than that which occurs inside the head, then how does the interplay of biological and environmental resources produce human cognition? Informed by active externalism, joint action, and distributed cognition, we review and classify a set of cognitive processes mediated by material representations. Specifically, we ask how—in a range of everyday cognitive and cultural practices—we employ objects (1) to scaffold memory, (2) to alter cognitive complexity, (3) to facilitate epis-temic experimentation, (4) to enable the division of cognitive labor, (5) to promote confidence and trust, (6) to consolidate social structure, and (7) to support dialogical coupling. We conclude that through cultural practices the stable, “manipulable”, and public properties of objects have come to afford unprecedented modes of extended and distributed cognition.

(Book Review) Judaic Technologies of the Word by Gabriel Levy

NUMEN 61.4

(Encyclopedia Article) Maya Religion

Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, Anne L.C. Runehov & Lluis Oviedo, eds. New York: Springer Reference.