Abstract
Previous research suggests that how people conceive of minds depends on the culture in which they live, both in determining how they interact with other human minds and how they infer the unseen minds of gods. We use exploratory factor analysis to compare how people from different societies with distinct models of human minds and different religious traditions perceive the minds of humans and gods. In two North American samples (American adults, N = 186; Canadian students, N = 202), we replicated a previously found two‐factor agency/experience structure for both human and divine minds, but in Fijian samples (Indigenous iTaukei Fijians, N = 77; Fijians of Indian descent, N = 214; total N = 679) we found a three‐factor structure, with the additional containing items related to social relationships. Further, Fijians’ responses revealed a different three‐factor structure for human minds and gods’ minds. We used these factors as dimensions in the conception of minds to predict (a) expectations about human and divine tendencies towards punishment and reward; and (b) conception of gods as more embodied (an extension of experience) or more able to know people's thoughts (an extension of agency). We found variation in how these factors predict conceptions of agents across groups, indicating further theory is needed to explain how culturally generated concepts of mind lead to other sorts of social inferences. We conclude that mind perception is shaped by culturally defined social expectations and recommend further work in different cultural contexts to examine the interplay between culture and social cognition.
Highlights
Humans have a remarkable ability to conceive of and reason about minds
We looked at mind perception—or how people conceive of minds —in two North Americans samples and two Fijian samples
This paper presents only a small sliver of the cultural diversity seen around the world, and only a small part of the complex sets of characteristics and abilities that make up mind perception, and yet we find quite a large amount of diversity across all of our analyses
Summary
We are able to decode observable physical cues—such as facial expressions, body language, and gaze—to understand the unobservable mental states of those around us (e.g., Baron-Cohen, 1995; Ekman, 1993; Johnson, Slaughter, & Carey, 1998; Meltzoff, 1995; Woodward, 1998) These abilities, and the ability to socially learn and transmit knowledge that comes with them, are part of the foundation of our remarkable ability to create the myriad of different cultures we live in (Chudek & Henrich, 2011; Chudek, Zhao, & Henrich, 2013; Henrich, 2015). Along with the ubiquity of these supernatural minds in human cultures, there appears to be substantial variation in the types of supernatural minds people create (see Purzycki & Sosis, 2011)
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