Publications

Richard Sosis

Journal Articles

Sosis, R., Kress, H. & Boster, J. (2007) Scars for war: evaluating alternative signaling explanations for cross-cultural variance in ritual costs. Evolution and Human Behavior 28, 234-247.

Sosis, R. (2007) Psalms for safety: Magico-religious responses to threats of terror. Current Anthropology 48, 903-911.

Ruffle, B. & Sosis., R. (2007) Does it pay to pray? Costly ritual and cooperation. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy 7, 1-35.

Sosis, R. (2005) Does Religion Promote Trust? The Role of Signaling, Reputation, and Punishment. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion 1, 1-30 (article 7).

Alcorta, C. S. & Sosis, R. (2005) Ritual, Emotion, and Sacred Symbols: The Evolution of Religion as an Adaptive Complex. Human Nature 16, 323-359.

Sosis, R. (2004) The adaptive value of religious ritual. American Scientist 92, 166-172.

Sosis, R. & Ruffle, B. (2004) On Ritual and Cooperation. Current Anthropology 45, 529-531.

Sosis, R. & Ruffle, B. (2004) Ideology, Religion, and the Evolution of Cooperation: Field Tests on Israeli Kibbutzim. Research in Economic Anthropology 23, 89-117.

Sosis, R. (2003) Why aren't we all Hutterites? Costly signaling theory and religious behavior. Human Nature 14, 91-127.

Sosis, R. & Alcorta, C. (2003) Signaling, Solidarity, and the Sacred: The Evolution of Religious Behavior. Evolutionary Anthropology 12, 264-274.

Sosis, R. & Bressler, E. R. (2003) Cooperation and commune longevity: A test of the costly signaling theory of religion. Cross-Cultural Research 37, 211-239.

Sosis, R. (2000) Religion and Intragroup Cooperation: Preliminary results of a comparative analysis of utopian communities. Cross-Cultural Research 34, 71-88.

Edited Books and Special Issues

Bulbulia, J., Sosis, R., Genet, C., Genet, R., Harris, E. & Wyman, K. (ed.) (2008) The Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories, and Critiques. Santa Margarita, CA: Collins Foundation Press.

Sosis, R. & Alcorta, C. (ed.) (2005) Special issue of Human Nature on the evolution of religion.

Book Chapters

Purzycki, B. & Sosis, R. (Forthcoming) The Religious System as Adaptive: Cognitive Flexibility, Public Displays, and Acceptance. In New York: Springer Publishers. (ed. E. V. a. W. Schiefenhцvel).

Finkel, D., Swartwout, P. & Sosis, R. (Forthcoming) The Socio-Religious Brain: A Developmental Model. In Proceedings of the British Academy (ed. R. Dunbar).

Sosis, R. (2009) Why are Synagogue Services so Long? An Evolutionary Examination of Jewish Ritual Signals. In Judaism in Biological Perspective: Biblical Lore and Judaic Practices (ed. R. Goldberg), pp. 199-233. Boulder: Paradigm Publishers.

Sosis, R. & Alcorta, C. (2008) Militants and martyrs: Evolutionary Perspectives on Religion and Terrorism. In Natural Security: A Darwinian Approach to a Dangerous World (ed. R. Sagarin & T. Taylor), pp. 105-124. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.

Sosis, R. (2008) Pigeons, Foxholes, and the Book of Psalms: Evolved Superstitious Responses to Cope with Stress and Uncertainty. In The Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories, and Critiques (ed. J. Bulbulia, R. Sosis, C. Genet, R. Genet, E. Harris & K. Wyman), pp. 15-19. Santa Margarita, CA: Collins Foundation Press.

Sosis, R. & Bulbulia, J. (2008) Religion in Eden. In The Evolution of Religion: Studies, Theories, and Critiques (ed. J. Bulbulia, R. Sosis, C. Genet, R. Genet, E. Harris & K. Wyman), pp. 15-19. Santa Margarita, CA: Collins Foundation Press.

Alcorta, C. & Sosis, R. (2007) Rituals of Humans and Animals. In Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships, vol. 2 (ed. M. Bekoff), pp. 599-605. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishers.

Sosis, R. (2006) Religious Behaviors, Badges, and Bans: Signaling Theory and the Evolution of Religion. In Where God and Science Meet: How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter our Understanding of Religion, vol. 1: Evolution, Genes, and the Religious Brain (ed. P. McNamara), pp. 61-86. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.