1984 (Orwell), 88
absurdity, 6, 13, 75, 97, 118, 140–44
see also surrealism
activation-synthesis hypothesis, 68
actual domain, 7
ADHD, 220
afterlife, 2, 17, 74–77, 149, 202, 213–15
agency detection, 25, 32, 45, 52–53
agriculture, 24, 49–50, 226–27
see also HIV
aliens
see extraterrestrials
altricious, 110–11
animacy detection, 53
anthropomorphism, 17, 24, 29–30, 46, 50–51, 54–55, 150, 214
art
authenticity and, 200–1
beauty and, 113
brain and, 8–9
computers and, 19–20
frivolity critique and, 18–19
game-piece, 67
incongruity and, 12
interactivity and, 34–35
landscapes and, 114
language and, 12
museums and, 27
personality and, 191–92
reality and, 120
religion and, 10, 21, 206, 227–28, 238–40
repetition and, 121–22
roleplaying games and, 36–37
science and, 132–33
sensory experience and, 145–48, 151–52
social compellingness theory and, 2, 25–27
sports and, 14
video and, 123
see also dance; music
artificial intelligence, 133
Atran, Scott, 6, 160, 212–13, 236
attention-deficity/hyperactivity disorder
see ADHD
authenticity, 200–1
autism spectrum quotient (AQ), 33–34, 214
availability cascade, 16, 98–101, 176, 195
availability heuristic, 135, 174–76, 223
Avatar, 115
Baldwin effect, 59
Balling, John, 65
Bar, Moshe, 154
Barker, Clive, 142
Barney, Matthew, 123
Bartlett, Frederic, 102
Bastian, Brock, 125
Begg, Ian Maynard, 86
Begue, Laurent, 201
Belief Instinct, The (Bering), 32
benign masochism, 126
Bering, Jesse, 32, 41, 46, 50, 75, 78, 100, 138, 202
Bernhardt, Paul, 208
bias
art and, 189–94
belief and, 16
biased inductive logic, 91
central tendency effect, 114
clustering illusion, 82, 94, 191
color and, 176–80
congruence bias, 63–64, 80, 131
conjunction fallacy, 95
critical thinking and, 85–86
danger bias, 68
environment and, 173–76
gambler’s fallacy, 191
“just world” phenomenon and, 201–3
McKee-Davies bias, 64
naturalness bias, 199–201
negativity bias, 57
new-brain/old-brain and, 17, 163, 239–40
observation and, 79
pattern detection and, 82
positive illusions, 62–64
schizotypalism and, 94
self-serving bias, 62
sexual attraction and, 181–89
visions and, 194–98
see also confirmation bias; social compellingness theory
Biddle, Jeff, 189
Billing, Jennifer, 125
Blackmore, Susan, 1
Blakeney, T.S., 144
Blanchard-Fields, Fredda, 123
Boden, Matthew, 5
book titles, 89
Boyd, Rob, 111
Boyer, Pascal, 54, 75–76, 79, 102, 104–6, 117, 143, 164, 229
Brady, Tara, 116
brain
art and, 8–9
evolution and, 2–4, 18, 93, 109–11, 197
language and, 128, 168, 215, 240
morality and, 3–4
music and, 146
religion and, 159–60
size, 109–10
survival and, 3
Braithwaite, Jason, 171
Bresin, Roberto, 157
Buddhism, 169, 202, 215, 221–22
Burkert, Walter, 53
Butler, Lisa Kort, 174
butoh, 123–24
Cage, John, 152
Caldwell-Harris, Catherine, 52
Cameron, James, 115
Campbell, Joseph, 134
Carbon, Claus-Christian, 84
categorical perception, 122
Catholic Church, 139, 150, 162, 202, 218
celebrities, 206–8
central tendency effect, 114
Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas, 192
cheater detection, 54
“Chekhov’s gun,” 88
Changizi, Mark, 87
choreometrics, 190
Christianity, 30, 52, 54, 74, 76, 79, 139, 162, 202, 214–15, 220–22, 236
Cimpian, Andrei, 58
Clore, Gerald, 177
clustering illusion
see bias
cognitive dissonance
see bias
colors
accent colors, 121–22
advertising and, 20
black, 176
blue, 181
cultural interpretations of, 176–81
food and, 152
illness and, 219
incongruity and, 120–21
light/dark and, 178–79
pink, 180
primal reaction to, 11–12, 176–80, 208
red, 179–81
science and, 20
sensory perception of, 155–56
compellingness foundations theory, 2, 5, 9, 12, 35, 205, 238–39
computer games, 13, 15, 28–29, 34–38, 68–71, 114, 119, 175
confirmation bias, 63–64, 73, 78–80, 131, 200
conspiracy theories, 16–17, 48, 78, 96–97
contagion, 162–64, 172, 177, 207
costly signaling, 207
counterontology theory, 104–6
creationism
see intelligent design
Crichton, Michael, 32
Csíkszentmihályi, Mihály, 117
Dalí, Salvador, 120
Damisch, Lysann, 234
dance, 1, 12, 27, 83, 121, 123–25, 146–49, 158, 188–90, 207, 227
Davidson, Justin, 157
Davis, Hank, 6
Dawkins, Richard, 211
Day, Hy, 113
dead bodies, 104–5
DeCaro, Maci, 4
Dennett, Daniel, 136
Derrick, Jaye, 207
Dewaele, Jean-Marc, 128
Diamond Age, The (Stephenson), 35
Dinka tribe, 11
Dionne, Sarah, 186
disease, 31–32, 59, 72–73, 115, 163, 187, 199, 212, 223, 234
Dissanayake, Ellen, 206
dissociative identity disorder, 166, 217
Do the Right Thing, 32
Doom, 38
dopamine, 91–94, 118, 144, 159–60, 171, 234
dopamine incongruity hypothesis, 118
double funerals, 105
double knowledge, 28
Douglas, Karen, 16
Dungeons & Dragons, 36
dyslexia, 85
Eastwick, Paul, 183
effort justification, 129
see also idea effort justification
Einstein, Albert, 89
Einstein, Sergei, 116
Ellis, Lee, 76
emotion, 3–4, 8, 11, 14, 21, 24, 25, 28–29, 52, 64, 100–1, 105, 112–13, 117, 121, 128, 147–49, 153, 156–57, 175–80, 191–92, 202, 214, 219–20, 234, 236
Eno, Brian, 124
see also seizures
Escher, M.C., 120
evil eye, 54
evolution
belief and, 30
brain and, 2–4, 18, 93, 109–11, 197
communication and, 38, 41, 58–59, 85
culture and, 205–7
death and, 202–3
experience and, 173–74
morality and, 78
peak shifts and, 124
play and, 118
religion and, 30, 46, 78, 135, 223–24, 228, 231–32
reproduction and, 62, 135–36, 172, 181–82, 185, 187, 211
sports and, 43
experience
evolution and, 173–74
language and, 58
“extended phenotype,” 206
extraterrestrials, 17, 46–49, 96, 99, 137, 166, 195–98
extroverts, 192
face detection, 53
Faces in the Clouds (Guthrie), 30
Falk, John, 65
fantasy (literary genre), 29–30, 32–33, 57, 107, 115, 141–42
fear
availability cascade and, 98
belief and, 57
bias and, 64
compellingness theory and, 9, 154
death and, 106
evolution and, 57–60
light/dark and, 176–78
news and, 6, 71–72, 98, 175–76
ritual and, 159–60
sensory perception and, 11, 25
Feist, Gregory, 116
fiction, 6–9, 13, 27–28, 33–38, 43, 80, 106–7, 141–43, 176, 201, 213, 239
film, 6, 8, 12–13, 20, 26–29, 35–37, 59, 67, 88–90, 115–16, 120, 123, 144, 155–56, 181–82, 190
Finding Nemo, 6
fine art vs. folk/pop art, 10
Finkel, Eli, 183
Fiske, Susan, 54
fitness, 184–86, 192, 206, 208
flow, 117
folk psychology, 53
see also agency detection; theory of mind
food, 14, 43, 67, 69, 92, 111, 125–26, 151–52, 161, 199, 219, 226
Foot, Philippa, 3
football, 15
Förster, Jens, 181
Frerotte, Rebecca, 26
Fritz, Tom, 157
frivolity critique, 18–19
Furnham, Adrian, 192
Gackenbach, Jayne, 68
Gal, David, 77
Gallup, Gordon, 44
gambler’s fallacy, 191
see also bias
game-piece, 67
gender differences, 15, 17, 33–34, 52, 66, 98, 124, 151, 179, 182–90, 197–98
Gendler, Tamar Szabó, 5
ghosts, 19, 102, 159, 165, 171–72, 195, 212, 215, 218, 228–29
Gigerenzer, Gerd, 191
Gilbert, Daniel, 21
God, 32, 41, 50–52, 74, 78–79, 88, 96, 100, 136, 138, 165, 199, 214, 216, 223, 225, 234–38
Gonsalvez, Craig, 162
Goodkind, Terry, 57
Gopnik, Alison, 112
Gosling, Samuel, 192
Grand Theft Auto, 38
Greene, Joshua, 3
greys (alien type)
see extraterrestrials
grinding, 69–70
see also computer games
group dancing, 27
Guthrie, S.E., 30
Haidt, Jonathan, 4, 32, 78, 206, 231–32
Halligan, Peter, 94
hallucinations, 93–94, 150, 159, 165–67, 171, 194, 216, 219–20
Halo 3, 114
Hamermesh, Daniel, 189
Hamilton, William, 186
handicap principle, 208
Harris, Lasana, 54
Harris, Sam, 214
Hartshorn, Kelly Sittner, 174
hearing, 152–55
see also afterlife
Hekkert, Peter, 114
see also afterlife
heretic personality, 97
heuristics
see bias
Hibbing, John, 59
high gods, 45
Hinduism, 54, 74, 161, 163–64, 202, 215, 221–22
see also AIDS
Hmong people, 195
Hobbs, Dawn, 44
Hood, Bruce, 201
horror, 10, 28, 68, 142, 192–93
How Music Works (Byrne), 27, 123
Hume, David, 135
see also jokes; laughter
hunter-gatherers, 30, 66, 197, 227
Huron, David, 89
hypergraphia, 219
hyperreligiosity, 18, 161, 219
idea effort justification, 129–30, 133–35, 143–44, 170
see also quotations
illusory correlation
see bias
imagination, 37
impossibility critique, 18, 21, 238
Improv Everywhere, 147
In Search of the Light (Blackmore), 1
incongruity
color and, 120–21
conspiracy theory and, 16
dance and, 123–25
environment and, 119–20
evolution and, 109–13
food and, 125–26
humor and, 127–29
idea effort justification, 129–30
meaning and, 129–40
merely counterfactual concepts and, 104
patterns and, 12, 16, 112–19, 142–43
play and, 118–19
poetry and, 133–34
quotations and, 126–17
religion and, 134–41
sports and, 15
symmetry and, 88
types of, 140–44
“inexplicable awfulness,” 142
“inexplicable wonderfulness,” 142
introverts, 192
intuition, 4–5, 17, 53, 59, 102–7, 117, 138, 140, 164, 183, 211
Islam, 74, 76, 161, 213, 219–23
James, Wendy, 50
see also Christianity
Johnson, Mark, 148
see also humor; laughter
Judaism, 161, 220–21, 224–25, 237
“just world” phenomenon, 201–3
kanashibari, 195
Kant, Immanuel, 132
Kapur, Shitij, 91
Kay, Aaron, 75
Keil, Frank, 104
Keleman, Deborah, 46
Kelly, Anita, 39
Kelly, Michael, 104
Keysar, Boaz, 85
Knobloch-Westerwick, Silvia, 68
Komar, Vitaly, 65
Kroeber, Alfred, 94
Kuhn, Deanna, 63
Kuruvilla, Beena, 68
Kurzweil, Ray, 152
Kwaio people, 79
Lachmann, Thomas, 85
Lakoff, George, 148
landscapes, 11, 20, 65–67, 114, 118, 160
Langlois, Judith, 181
language
cadence and, 154–55
cognitive psychology and, 174
experience and, 58
gossip and, 41
lessons and, 8–9
narrative arts, 8
patterns and, 83
phonemes, 152–53
poetry and, 133
religion and, 220–22
sensory experience and, 148–49
sound and, 82–83
storytelling and, 209
time and, 148
see also humor; jokes
Lechner, Anat, 177
Leder, Helmut, 84
Lem, Stanislaw, 30
Lev-Ari, Shiri, 85
Life Is Beautiful, 28
light/dark and, 176–78
Limbaugh, Joseph, 34
literature, 8, 12, 18, 33, 36–38, 89, 134, 143, 152, 156, 187
Lomax, Alan, 189–90
Loyola, Ignatius, 162
Luther, Martin, 218
Lyons, Elizabeth, 66
Maazel, Lorin, 157
Mafa ethnic group, 157
magic tricks
see stage magic
magical contagion, 162–63
Magritte, René, 120
Maier, Markus, 179
Matrix, The, 190
Mayr, Ernst, 108
McAndrew, Francis, 39
McCarthy, Jenny, 72
McGlone, Matthew, 90
McGregor, Ian, 59
McKee, Darren, 64
McLeod, S. Lyndsay, 6
McManus, Meaghan, 196
meditation, 167, 169, 215, 217
Melamid, Alexander, 65
mental illness, 5, 107, 161, 216, 219–20
see also schizophrenia
“merely counterfactual concepts,” 103
metaphors, 14, 30, 46, 53, 134, 136, 139, 148–50, 157–58, 176, 190
and religion, 136
Miller, Dale, 62
Miller, Geoffrey, 188
mimicry
instinct and, 66
meditation and, 169
music and, 157
vocal, 157
Mineka, Susan, 59
minimally counterintuitive ideas, 103
miracles, 9, 17, 135–38, 192, 215
mirror neutrons, 146
Mithen, Steven, 53
Moore, Sarah, 20
“moral dumbfounding,” 4
moral reasoning, 3
morality
color and, 177–78
conspiracy theories and, 16, 97
goodness and, 150
loyalty and, 15
old-brain/new-brain and, 3–4
religion and, 51, 78–79, 97, 102, 136, 150, 219, 236–38
science and, 232
social explanations and, 44
supernatural beliefs and, 32
Moretti, Franco, 89
Morris, Michael, 46
Morrison, Evan, 187
movies
see film
MP3s, 122
multiple personalities
see dissociative identity disorder
music
culture and, 157
familiarity and, 121–22, 157–58
fear and, 67
groups and, 27
incongruity and, 13, 90, 121–23
instrumental, 44
key and, 122–23
neurochemistry and, 146
patterns and, 14, 81–83, 89–90
repetition and, 89–90
sensory perception and, 152–53, 156
social compellingness and, 2, 27, 44
society and, 14
stereotypes and, 191–92
uncertainty and, 117
mystery, 21, 116–17, 127, 139–44, 221, 226
Nail, Paul, 59
narrative, 8, 13–14, 27–29, 31, 33–38, 42, 48–49, 80, 96, 99, 107, 117, 123, 142–43, 195, 215
see also stories
near-death experiences, 159–60, 217
negativity bias, 57
Nelson, Leif, 187
Nemeroff, Carol, 162
Neta, Maital, 154
news, 2, 5–6, 10, 29, 38–39, 41–43, 46, 71–72, 174–76, 200, 208–9, 228
nightmares, 68
Nixon, Richard, 16
nondirective therapy, 130
Notebook, The, 29
object permanence, 105
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 160–62, 164, 170, 218–19
orgasms, 81
Orwell, George, 88
Pandalaere, Mario, 121
paranormal
belief and, 1–2, 5, 17, 19, 92
gender and, 52
illness and, 93–94
medicine and, 19
patterns and, 92
psychics, 141–42
religion and, 92–94, 209, 212–13
science and, 210–11
see also extraterrestrials; ghosts; supernatural
patternicity, 82
patterns
agency and, 25
availability cascade and, 98–101
bandwagon effect and, 98
bias and, 82
brain and, 8, 10–12, 91–94, 107–8, 167, 240
conspiracy theory and, 95–98
death and, 105–7
fear and, 170–71
human nature and, 81–82
illusory correlation and, 82–83
incongruity and, 12, 16, 112–19, 142–43
memory and, 83–84
mental illness and, 91–94
mental processing of, 85–87
music and, 14, 81–83, 89–90, 122, 157
paranormal/supernatural and, 45, 92, 94–95, 102–5
religion and, 45–46, 50, 95, 103–5, 164, 227
science and, 75
survival and, 87
symmetry and, 84–85
peak shift principle, 124
Pechey, Rachel, 94
perceptual fluency hypothesis, 85
Perina, Kaja, 48
person permanence, 105, 202, 215
personality, 8, 29, 31–32, 45, 49, 97, 116, 166, 183, 191–92, 214, 220
Pettazoni, Raffaele, 78
Pettijohn, Terry II, 67
Phillips, Flip, 114
play, 118–19
Pollock, Jackson, 12
popping (dance style), 123–24
positive illusions, 62–64
Preston, Jesse Lee, 85
Previc, Fred
principle of balance, 108
Pronin, Emily, 32
proper domain, 7
proprioception, 146–49
protectionism critique, 18–19
psychological continuity, 75, 202, 215
see also afterlife
puzzles, 10, 16, 32, 69, 119–20, 129, 140, 143–44, 240
Quake, 38
quotations, 2, 16, 42, 87–90, 126–27
ractives, 35
Raymond, Michel, 78
Reality Check podcast, 64
Reiki, 80
relative social status hypothesis, 40, 54, 193, 208
religion
anthropomorphism and, 30
art and, 10, 21, 206, 227–28, 238–40
atheism and, 231–33
attributionist theory and, 195
availability cascade and, 99
brain and, 159–60
clarity of explanation and, 137–39, 164
compellingness and, 2, 9–10, 78, 238–39
confirmation bias and, 78
conspiracy theorists and, 96–97
death and, 104–7
differing interpretations and, 131, 134–36
direction and, 149
doctrinal, 77
fear and, 71–79
frivolity critique and, 18–19
“just world” phenomenon and, 201–3
miracles and, 138
mythology and, 16–18
neurochemistry and, 93–95
patterns and, 45–46
public opinion and, 101–2
science and, 107, 136–37, 159–66, 228–31
sensory perception and, 150, 164–66, 169, 212
society and, 233–38
study of, 212–28
supernatural and, 30–32, 49–55, 102–4, 171, 209
survival and, 50, 101, 136–38, 209, 220, 224–25, 227, 235–36
see also God
Rentfrow, Peter, 192
reproduction
attractiveness and, 181–82, 192
enjoyment and, 20
evolution and, 62, 135–36, 172, 181–82, 211
music and, 44
old brain and, 3
selfish gene theory and, 186
social structure and, 24
stories and, 29
“resisting temptation,” 4
revelation, 166–69, 218, 222, 224
Révész, Peter, 82
Richardson, Daniel, 190
Richerson, Peter, 111
riddles, 143
Righteous Mind, The (Haidt), 32
ritual, 10, 14–15, 45, 49–51, 76, 94–95, 105–6, 134, 139–40, 160–67, 170–72, 212, 217–23
Rockwell, Norman, 12
Roes, Frans, 78
role-playing games, 13, 34–38, 119
Ross, Michael, 62
Rozin, Paul, 126
Rucker, Derek, 77
Sacco, Donald Jr., 67
Schachner, Adena, 157
schizophrenia, 5, 18, 91–94, 118, 160, 165, 217–19
schizotypalism, 94–95, 218, 233
Schmidhuber, Jürgen, 84
science fiction, 17, 30–35, 115
science vs. religion, 228–31
seasonal affective disorder (SAD), 178
secrets, 38–39, 41, 45, 48–49, 96
see also epilepsy
selfish gene theory, 186
sex
see reproduction
sex differences
see gender differences
Shackelford, Todd, 182
significance, 210–11
Simonton, Dean Keith, 86
Singh, Devendra, 187
Singularity Is Near, The (Kurzweil), 152
Skolnick Weisberg, Deena, 198
smell, 151–52
Smith, Joseph, 220
social compellingness theory, 24–27, 39, 42–44, 50, 53, 78, 104, 109, 214, 216, 239
socially strategic knowledge, 41, 50–51, 231
Solaris, 30
Somel, Mehmet, 196–97
Sopranos, The, 68
Sosis, Richard, 232
Spina, Roy, 199
spoiler critique, 18–21
sports, 2, 14–15, 43–44, 90–91, 118, 126, 158, 179, 187, 190, 193–94, 206–8, 239
Stalin, Joseph, 42
Star Wars, 32, 70, 101, 143–44
status, 39–41, 95–96, 140, 179, 182, 186, 193–94, 208, 226
“status challenge,” 34
Stephenson, Neal, 35
stories, 9, 13, 16, 27–36, 39, 46–48, 51–53, 67–69, 71, 102, 107, 142–44, 172, 174–76, 191, 209, 214, 220
see also narrative
storytelling, 8–9, 115, 156, 209
subitization, 26
supernatural, 30–32, 49–55, 102–4, 171, 209
see also extraterrestrials; ghosts; paranormal
supernatural agents/beings
see God
supernormal stimuli
see peak shift principle
superstition, 17–18, 72, 92, 96, 164, 170–71, 214
superstitious learning, 92.
see also superstition
surrealism, 120
survival
attraction and, 207
brain and, 3
communication and, 58
costly signaling and, 207
fitness and, 206–7
landscape scenes and, 65–66
parental care and, 111
pattern recognition and, 87
religion and, 50, 101, 136–38, 209, 220, 224–25, 227, 235–36
reproduction and, 172, 181, 185–86, 206–8, 211
sensory input and, 145
social compellingness hypothesis,
104
social structure and, 24
sports and, 118
storytelling and, 8
Sutton, Robbie, 16
Swami, Viren, 95
“swept away by romance” trope, 13
symmetry, 12, 47, 84–85, 88, 113, 119, 184, 188
temporal-lobe epilepsy, 18, 219–20
theater, 11, 34–36, 88, 118, 148–49, 151, 156
theatrical improvisation
see improv
theological correctness, 51, 54
“theory of mind,” 25, 50, 52–54, 105–6, 216
“theory of the living dead,” 106
threat-simulation theory, 68
titles
see book titles
Tofighbakhsh, Jessica, 90
Tomb Raider, 38
Tree, Jean Fox, 72
Treisman, Daniel, 76
trolley problem, 3
Tversky, Amos, 191
UFOs
see extraterrestrials
van Elst, Ledger Tebartz, 178
van Leeuwen, Cees, 85
video games
see computer games
virtual reality, 29
vision, 155–56
vocal mimicry, 157
Wagner, Richard, 90
Watergate, 16
Waytz, Adam, 54
Weldon, Mary Susan, 72
Westermarck effect, 187
Whitehouse, Harvey, 101, 134, 218, 220
Wilhelm scream, 155
Wilmer, William, 171
Winkielman, Piotr, 116
Winner, Ellen, 11
Winstanley, Catharine, 97
Wisneski, Daniel, 97
witchcraft, 31–32, 76, 95, 236
Woese, Carl, 108
Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The (Baum), 9, 190
Wood, Michael, 97
“Worlds in Collision” theory, 45
Xie, Jerry, 101
Zelenski, John, 67
Zhong, Chen-Bo, 177