Dissertation Research: Cognition and Religion: Religiosity in Tibetan Buddhist Monasticism as a Test Case

研究生Alex W. Bridges将在Melvyn C. Goldstein博士的指导下进行宗教信仰与认知之间关系的研究。最近的研究表明，人类大脑普遍的认知神经特性可能是宗教体验明显相似的基础。《桥梁》将通过在藏传佛教寺院的独特社会背景下进行深入的实地研究，检验这一理论的各个方面。​研究将在代表不同教派的两座寺院进行。研究人员将使用传统的民族志方法，包括参与者观察和生活史访谈。此外，他将采用一种适应的串行复制测试方法进行实验，该方法用于测试记忆。在此背景下，研究人员将对僧侣进行测试，以引出宗教思想和仪式实践的叙事使用和记忆模式。我们将通过以下方式来评估宗教认知理论家的普遍主义主张：1)确定僧侣的个人背景如何影响宗教观念与生活事件之间的关系；2)揭示宗教观念在多大程度上与修道院背景下的日常实践相区别。这项研究很重要，因为它将是第一个在特定宗教经验的社会背景下测试宗教普遍认知理论的人类学研究之一。这将有助于更好地理解人类认知的宗教层面，也有助于研究生的教育。

Graduate student Alex W. Bridges, supervised by Dr. Melvyn C. Goldstein, will undertake research on the relationship between religiosity and cognition. Recent research has suggested that universal cognitive neurological properties of the human brain may underlie apparent similarities in religious experiences. Bridges will test aspects of that theory through intensive field research in the unique social context of Tibetan Buddhist monasticism.Fieldwork will take place over a twelve month period in Ladakh, a predominantly Tibetan Buddhist region of India's northern Himalayas. Research will be conducted at two monasteries representing different monastic sects. The researcher will use traditional ethnographic methodologies, including participant observation and life-history interviewing. In addition, he will conduct experiments employing an adapted method of serial reproduction testing, which is used to test memory. In this context, the researcher will test monks to elicit patterns in the narrative usage and remembering of religious ideas and ritual practices. Universalist claims of cognitive theorists of religion will be evaluated through 1) determining how the personal backgrounds of monks influence the relationship between religious ideas and life events, and 2) revealing the extent to which religious concepts are distinguished from everyday practice in a monastic context. This research is important because it will be one of the first anthropological studies to test universalist cognitive theories of religion in the social context of particular religious experience. This will contribute to better understanding of the religious dimensions of human cognition, as well as to the education of a graduate student.