معرفی
Martin Lang serves as Associate Professor at Masaryk University's Faculty of Arts, where he leads the Laboratory for Experimental Research on Religion. His institutional affiliation includes membership in the Research Ethics Committee and Industry Council for Religion Studies at Masaryk University. His office is located in building C/C.308 at Arna Nováka 1, Brno.
Lang's research interests focus on the experimental investigation of religion through cognitive and evolutionary lenses. His work examines ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform, the psychophysiological effects of extreme rituals, and the evolutionary foundations of religious practices. He investigates how costly signaling theory explains religious commitment, the relationship between ritual participation and prosocial behavior, and the cognitive mechanisms underlying religious experiences across diverse cultural contexts. His interdisciplinary approach bridges religious studies, psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience to understand religion as a complex adaptive system.
Analysis of Lang's recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on experimental methodologies in religious studies, with particular attention to cross-cultural comparisons (especially in Mauritius), physiological measurements of ritual effects, and game-theoretic approaches to religious cooperation. His work increasingly integrates cognitive science frameworks with traditional religious studies to develop novel theoretical models explaining the evolution and persistence of religious behaviors. The research demonstrates growing interdisciplinary collaboration across psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience.
Lang actively organizes academic events including workshops on cognitive and evolutionary sciences of religion, demonstrating leadership in advancing experimental methodologies within religious studies. His work has appeared in high-impact journals including Current Anthropology, Cognition, and Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
As head of the Laboratory for Experimental Research on Religion, Lang directs a research team conducting field and laboratory experiments on religious behavior. His laboratory employs diverse methodologies including economic games, physiological measurements, and non-invasive monitoring to study ritual behavior across cultural contexts. Current projects examine the relationship between religious music and moral behavior, anxiety responses to ritual participation, and cross-cultural variations in religious prosociality.
