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

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH

Investigators

Abstract

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.