Religion and cooperative childcare
The more children we have, the less we can invest in each of them. That is mathematically inevitable and empirically supported. Religion may be a powerful force that bring together families as well as community members and help to share the costs of childcare. I am part of an international team of demographers, anthropologists, and religious scholars examining why the trade-off between quantity and quality is lower among religious people.
Publications
Costly religious signaling
Religious behaviors are inherently linked to commitment to religious cooperative norms allowing others to encode such behaviors as honest signals of cooperative incentives. Research documents plausibility of such reasoning but crucial gap remains if one wants to generalize and theorize about costly signaling as integral element of evolution of religion. My research explores functioning of costly signals and its underlying psychology.
Publications
Insecurity and religion
It has been argued that during existential crises, people turn to their gods and engage in religious rituals. This is because religious beliefs and practices may help alleviate the burdens of hardship by reducing anxiety and fostering mutual support within communities. My research examines whether crises increase religiosity and explores the ways in which religion helps individuals cope with difficult times.
Publications
Religion and morality
Religion has been long linked with morality. However, not all Samaritans are good and the association between religion and morality is not simple as it seems at first sight. In several projects, I investigate how religion transforms our moral realms by reinforcing our perception of moral norms as objective and independent on time, space, and cultures and how religious rituals may promote group moral hypocrisy by creating sharp borders between us and them
Publications
Ongoing research grants
Currently (2025-2027), I work on a project funded by Czech Science Foundation titled
'War-induced insecurity, religiosity, and social support among Ukrainian refugee mothers in the Czech Republic'
This project investigates how war-induced insecurity influences religiosity and its social functions during crises using the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a case study. Combining survey data from forced migrant mothers in the Czech Republic and secondary data on casualties resulting from Russian bombing in Ukraine, we will explore how war-related insecurity in the area of origin affects religiosity of forced migrants in the Czech Republic. Next, we will investigate how religion fosters cooperation, trust, and social capital among refugees. To that end, we plan to collect data from more than 2,000 Ukrainian refugees in the Czech Republic.
Information and registration form for participants are accessible in Ukrainian and Russian language
My roles in other projects
Building a mobile toolkit to assess the religion-cooperation link
PI: Dimitris Xygalatas
My role: Collaborator
Duration: May 2025 - February 2027
Funder: Templeton Religion Trust
Evolutionary demography of religion and family size
PI: John Shaver
My role: Post-doc
Duration: November 2022 - June 2025
Funder: John Templeton Foundation
Signaler psychology: Investigating computations underlying human cooperative communication
PI: Martin Lang
My role: External collaboration
Duration: January 2023 - December 2025
Funder: Czech Science Foundation
Existential security, secular institutions, and group norms: Explaining the rise of non-theism
PI: Martin Lang
My role: External collaboration
Duration: January 2023 - June 2024
Funder: Templeton Religion Trust