Some Correspondences and Similarities of Shamanism and Cognitive Science: Interconnectedness, Extension of Meaning, and Attribution of Mental States

The paper draws correspondences between shamanism and contemporary cognitive science, focusing on interconnectedness in the web-of-life worldview and connectionist models of semantic memory, as well as the extension of meaning to natural elements in shamanism and distributed cognition. It discusses cognitive consequences like representativeness heuristics, magical thinking, social attribution errors, and in-group/out-group differences. The author suggests that attributing mental states to a computer based on behavioral measures like the Turing test aligns with shamanism's extension of meaning and intentionality to nonhuman elements. Overall, these parallels suggest that shamanic ideas may reflect cognitive structures and processes also used in nonshamanic contexts.

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Abstract

Correspondences and similarities between ideas in shamanism and ideas in contemporary cognitive science are considered. The importance of interconnectedness in the web of life worldview characteristic of shamanism and in connectionist models of semantic memory in cognitive science, and the extension of meaning to elements of the natural world in shamanism and indistributed cognition, are considered. Cognitive consequences of such an extension (e.g., use of representativeness and intentional stance heuristics, magical thinking, social attribution errors, and social in‐group/out‐group differences) are discussed. It is suggested that attributions of mental states, beliefs, and desires to a computer on the basis of behavioral measures (e.g., the Turing test) is consistent with the extension of meaning and intentionality to nonhuman elements of the natural world in shamanism. In general, the existence of such correspondencesand similarities suggests that elements of shamanism may reflect cognitive structures and processes that are also used by nonshamans and in nonshamanic settings.