Faculty of Psychology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand; University Institute of Maia, Maia, Portugal; Center for Psychology at University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, Pécs, 7622, Hungary.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2021 Sep;128:406-414. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.06.036. Epub 2021 Jun 27.
Supernatural fears, although common, are not as well-understood as natural fears and phobias (e.g., social, blood, and animal phobias) which are prepared by evolution, such that they are easily acquired through direct experience and relatively immune to cognitive mediation. In contrast, supernatural fears do not involve direct experience but seem to be related to sensory or cognitive biases in the interpretation of stimuli as well as culturally driven cognitions and beliefs. In this multidisciplinary synthesis and collaborative review, we claim that supernatural beliefs are "super natural." That is, they occur spontaneously and are easy to acquire, possibly because such beliefs rest on intuitive concepts such as mind-body dualism and animism, and may inspire fear in believers as well as non-believers. As suggested by psychological and neuroscientific evidence, they tap into an evolutionarily prepared fear of potential impending dangers or unknown objects and have their roots in "prepared fears" as well as "cognitively prepared beliefs," making fear of supernatural agents a fruitful research avenue for social, anthropological, and psychological inquires.
超自然恐惧虽然常见，但不如进化产生的自然恐惧和恐惧症（如社交恐惧、血液恐惧和动物恐惧）那样为人所理解，自然恐惧和恐惧症很容易通过直接经验获得，并且相对不受认知调节的影响。相比之下，超自然恐惧并不涉及直接经验，而是似乎与刺激的感知或认知偏差有关，以及受文化驱动的认知和信仰有关。在这项多学科的综合和协作评论中，我们声称超自然信仰是“超自然的”。也就是说，它们是自发产生的，很容易获得，可能是因为这些信仰基于身心二元论和万物有灵论等直觉概念，并且可能会使信徒和非信徒感到恐惧。正如心理学和神经科学证据所表明的那样，它们涉及到对潜在危险或未知物体的进化准备好的恐惧，并且根植于“准备好的恐惧”以及“认知准备好的信仰”，使对超自然实体的恐惧成为社会、人类学和心理学探究的富有成效的研究途径。
