A temporal-causal network model for the relation between religion and human empathy

Abstract

Religion has been extensively studied from many different perspectives. The current study aims at integrating a number of these perspectives into one computational network model. By first developing a conceptual temporal-causal network model based on literature, and then formalizing this model into a numerical network model, simulations can be done for almost any kind of religious person, showing different behaviours for persons with different religious backgrounds and characters. The focus was mainly on the influence of religion on human empathy and disempathy, a topic very relevant today.