Inaugural Professorial Lecture – Professor Jesse Bering
The Incredible Afterlives of Dr Stevenson
About Professor Bering's research
An experimental psychologist by training, Jesse's primary research area is the cognitive science of religion. His work centres on the cognitive underpinnings of afterlife beliefs, as well as how we ascribe purpose to life events as a consequence of our species' evolved psychology.
Using controlled studies, he has begun to explore people's ability to reconcile religious and scientific reasoning when faced directly with experiences or information that challenge their worldviews.
He is also an award-winning science writer specialising in human behaviour. His first book, The Belief Instinct (2011), was included on the American Library Association's Top 25 Books of the Year. This was followed by a collection of his published essays, Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That? (2012), Perv (2013), a taboo-breaking work that received widespread critical acclaim and was named as a New York Times Editor's Choice, and Suicidal (2018, published in NZ as A Very Human Ending). His latest book, The Incredible Afterlives of Dr Stevenson, will be published in 2025.
This lecture will be followed with light refreshments, tea, coffee and juice.
Livestream
This event will be livestreamed, from 5:25pm, Tuesday, 15 October, at the link below: