Houmanfar, Ramona; Hayes, Linda J.; Fredericks, Debra W.
Abstract
The role of religious practices in cultural evolution and the interrelations of religious and other cultural practices are the topics of this paper. This paper provides a descriptive analysis of the social and historical conditions out of which religious practices have been generated. Additionally, the relation of religious practices to the outcome of cultural survival is discussed. The authors’ analysis draws upon a number of distinctions: cultural vs. noncultural practices, religious vs. nonreligious, religious vs. moral, and moral vs. other cultural practices. They address the significance of these distinctions to the role of religious practices in cultural survival and conclude with a discussion of the challenges facing behavior analysts as cultural engineers.
