Curriculum Vitae

Person-Related Identification Information

• Mgr. Jakub Cigán, 5th of December 1982, Bratislava, married

Department

• Department for the Study of Religions
  Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University
  Arne Nováka 1
  Brno
  602 00

Employment - Position

• Assistant professor
• Research Fellow LEVYNA (Laboratory for Experimental Research of Religion)

Education and Academic Qualifications

• 2009 - 2014: Ph.D.'s degree study, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno
• Study of religions
• 2006 - 2009: Master´s degree study, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno
• Study of religions
• MA thesis: Thinking of Conversion. Religious Conversion and Its Study in Perspective of Cognitive Science
• 2005 - 2006: Bachelor´s degree study, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University, Brno
• Study of Religions
• BA thesis: Conversion, its typology and structure
• 2002 - 2005: Faculty of Arts, Comenius University, Bratislava
• Study of Religions
• 1998 - 2002: Gymnasium, Hubeného 23, Bratislava

Teaching Activities

• RLA13 Introduction to Research Methodology in the Study of Religions
• RLA66 Current Theories in the Study of Religions I
• RLA25 Religion in Cognitive/Psychological Perspectives
• RLB31 Sociology of Religion

Scientific and Research Activities

• Fields of interest
• Cognitive Science of Religion
• New religious movements
• Theory and Methodology of Study of religions
• Anthropology of relgion
• Research Grants
• Dean´s Grant Foundation, Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University
• 2010 - Theoretical and methodological issues in the conversion studies and cognitive science of religion MUNI/21/CIG/2010
• Conferences
• 2009 - „Meaning in Religion, Cognition and Culture“, Aarhus, Denmark, 28th – 29th of May, paper: „Religious Conversion – some critical remarks“.
• 2009 - „Loose Ends in the Cognitive Study of Religion and Culture“, Brno, Czech Republic, 6th – 7th of September, paper: „Convert´s Memories – what can they tell us about religious conversion“
• 2010 - "Kognice 2010: Reprezentace významu", Prague, Czech Republic, 16th - 17th of September), paper: "Religious ideas and religious conversion: potentialities and pitfalls"
• 2011 - "New Movements in Religions. Theories and Trends" (The 10th Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), Budapest, Hungary, 18th - 22nd of September, paper: "Chasing a religious conversion"
• 2012 - "Ends and beginnings" (The 11. conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions & Special conference of the International Association for the History of Religions), 23th - 26th of August, paper: "You have to be born again : converting through narrative"
• 2012 - "Homo Experimentalis: Experimental approaches in the study of religion", Brno, Czech Republic, 25th - 27th of October, poster: "Religious conversion as a tool for group affiliation and commitment: ethnographic research report"
• 2012 - "Explaining Religion: Method, Theory & Experiment", Thessaloniki, Greece, 22nd - 24th of November, paper: "Religious conversion as a commitment signal and strategy"
• 2012 - "Past, Present, and Future in the Scientific Study of Religion", Brno, Czech Republic, 1st - 3rd of March, poster: "Religious conversion and group dynamics"
• 2012 - "Biological and Cultural Evolution and Their Interactions", Aarhus, Denmark, 26th - 30th of June, poster: "Connecting through emotional stories"
• 2012 - "Methological Issues in Ethnographic Research of Social Representations", Bratislava, Slovensko, 8th - 9th of November, paper: "...that if you confess with your mouth...": religious conversion as a signal of commitment to group"
• 2013 - "Social Cognition and Religion" (IACSR Workshop), Berlin, Germany, 31st of July, poster: "Abase yourself to convince others: Public Conversion Testimony of In-group and Out-group Converts"
• 2014 - "Religion Explained? The Cognitive Science of Religion after Twenty-Five Years", Brno, Czech Republic, 20th - 22nd of June, poster: "Other people's gods are watching too: Effects of cross-religious primes on prosocial behaviour"
• 2014 - "Religion Explained? The Cognitive Science of Religion after Twenty-Five Years", Brno, Czech Republic, 20th - 22nd of June, poster: "Meditation makes me sick: Meditation and sensitivity to parasympathetic nervous system stimulation"
• 2014 - "The Third International Krakow Study of Religions Symposium: Fields of Research, Method and Perspectives", Krakow, Poland, 27th - 29th of October, paper: "Be(a)ware of their gods: Effects of cross-religious contextual primes on prosocial behavior among Mauritian Catholics"
• 2015 - "Dynamics of Religion: Past & Present" (The 21st World Congress of International Association for the History of Religions), Erfurt, Germany, 23rd - 29th of August, paper: "Experimental study of prosocial behavior in cross-religious settings on Mauritius"

Internship and stays for the purpose of study or work

• 2011/08/01 – 2011/08/26: Aarhus University, Aarhus, Summer School, DNK
  • Kurz Experimental Methods in the Study of Cognition and Culture

Activities Outside University

• 2008 - : Co-founder of "Czech society for cognitive study of culture"
• Public lectures
• 2009 - „Religious conversionas evolutionary adaptation?“ (Czech society for cognitive study of culture), Faculty of Arts Masaryk University, Brno

Major Publications

• EJOVA, Anastasia; Oliver SHEEHAN; Remco BOUCKAERT; Simon J. GREENHILL; Jan KRÁTKÝ; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ; Jakub CIGÁN; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Radek KUNDT; Joseph WATTS; Joseph BULBULIA; Quentin D. ATKINSON a Russell D. GRAY. Three evolutionary radiations shaped the evolution of global religious diversity. Evolutionary Human Sciences. Cambridge: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, 2025, roč. 7, č. 1, s. 1-14. ISSN 2513-843X. Dostupné z: https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2025.10027. URL, URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub; Radek KUNDT a Radim CHVAJA. Political leaders and nepotism: What we are willing to accept in condition of threat. In Religious studies meet psychology: Experimental research in cross-cultural perspective, Brno, ČR. 2025. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub; Jan KRÁTKÝ; Radek KUNDT; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Martin LANG a Peter MAŇO. Ritual Explained? Some Issues and Challenges for the Cognitive and Evolutionary Study of Rituals. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2024. ISSN 2049-7555. Dostupné z: https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.25413. URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Conflict and resilience in the experimental research. In 21st Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions : "Nature, Ecology, and Religious Responses to Climate Change", University of Gothenburg, Sweden, August 19-23, 2024. 2024. URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Conversion experience unbounded and standardized: How the autobiographical remembering enables the affiliation process. 2022. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Explaining religious conversion in cognitive and evolutionary sciences of religion (CESR). 2022. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Public conversion testimonies and group commitment. 2022. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Patterns of schism : Phylogenetic modeling of religions. In 14th ISORECEA conference: Religion on the Periphery. 2021. URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Hearing Voices, Epilepsy, and Religious Experience. McCauley and Graham’s New Solutions to Old Problems. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion. Sheffield (UK): Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2021, roč. 7, č. 1, s. 85-93. ISSN 2049-7555. Dostupné z: https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.20219. URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Remembering and displaying conversion. In Material and Visual Aspects of Rituals: An Interdisciplinary Workshop. 2020. info
• EJOVA, Anastasia; Oliver SHEEHAN; Simon J GREENHILL; Jakub CIGÁN; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ; Jan KRÁTKÝ; Radek KUNDT; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Joseph WATTS; Remco BOUCKAERT; Quentin D. ATKINSON; Joseph BULBULIA a Russell D. GRAY. The evolution of global religions. In 17th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR), 25.-29. 06. 2019 , Tartu, Estonia. 2019. URL info
• EJOVA, Anastasia; Jan KRÁTKÝ; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Radek KUNDT; Jakub CIGÁN; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ; Joseph BULBULIA a Russell D. GRAY. Awe’s effects on prosociality require analysis over time. In 17th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR); Tartu, 25-29 June 2019. 2019. URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub a Peter MAŇO. "Prečo veríme?" Vystoupení v pořadu Experiment. Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska (RTVS), 2019. URL info
• XYGALATAS, Dimitrios; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ; Peter MAŇO; Radek KUNDT; Jakub CIGÁN; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ a Martin LANG. Big Gods in small places : the Random Allocation Game in Mauritius. Religion, Brain & Behavior. Routledge, 2018, roč. 8, č. 2, s. 243-261. ISSN 2153-599X. Dostupné z: https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2016.1267033. URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub; Martin KANOVSKÝ; Jan HORSKÝ; Justin Emory LANE a Michaela PORUBANOVÁ. Five moral foundations as nonmoral residuals. An alternative model for MFQ. In Future Directions on the Evolution of Rituals, Beliefs, and Religious Minds. 2018. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub; Martin KANOVSKÝ; Jan HORSKÝ; Justin Emory LANE a Michaela PORUBANOVÁ. Five moral foundations in trouble: an alternative model for MFQ. In 7th biennial meeting of the International Association for the Cognitive Science of Religion. 2018. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub; Anastasia EJOVA; Radek KUNDT; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Jan KRÁTKÝ; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ a Joseph BULBULIA. Úžas, náboženství a prosociální chování. In 17. konference psychosomatické medicíny. 2018. info
• KOTHEROVÁ, Silvie; Jakub CIGÁN; Paul REDDISH a Michaela PORUBANOVÁ. Meditace a narušení vnímaní těla. In 17. konference psychosomatické medicíny. 2018. info
• XYGALATAS, Dimitrios; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Jakub CIGÁN; Radek KUNDT; Peter MAŇO; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ; Panagiotis MITKIDIS; Sebastian Ernst WALLOT a Martin KANOVSKÝ. Location, location, location : Effects of cross-religious primes on prosocial behaviour. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. Hillsdale: Taylor & Francis Group, 2016, roč. 26, č. 4, s. 304-319. ISSN 1050-8619. Dostupné z: https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2015.1097287. URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ; Milan SEPŠI; Lenka KRAJČÍKOVÁ a Mária HOLICKÁ. Meditation makes me sick: Meditation and sensitivity to parasympathetic nervous system. In MUR: MÓZG – UMYSŁ – RELIGIA, Krakow, 28.2-1.3.2015. 2015. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ; Radek KUNDT; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Peter MAŇO; Panagiotis MITKIDIS; Sebastian Ernst WALLOT; Martin KANOVSKÝ a Dimitrios XYGALATAS. Experimental study of prosocial behavior in cross-religious settings on Mauritius. In XXI Quinquennial World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR), Erfurt, 23-29 August 2015. 2015. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub; Silvie KOTHEROVÁ; Radek KUNDT; Eva KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ; Peter MAŇO; Panagiotis MITKIDIS; Sebastian Ernst WALLOT a Dimitrios XYGALATAS. Be(a)ware of their gods: Effects of cross-religious contextual primes on prosocial behavior among Mauritian Catholics. In The Third International Krakow Study of Religions Symposium Religions: fields of research, method and perspectives, Krakow, 27-29 October 2014. 2014. info
• KOTHEROVÁ, Silvie; Jakub CIGÁN; Milan SEPŠI; Lenka KRAJČÍKOVÁ; Mária HOLICKÁ a Jiří JARKOVSKÝ. Meditation makes me sick: Meditation and sensitivity to parasympathetic nervous system stimulation. In Religion Explained? The Cognitive Science of Religion after 25 Years, Brno, 20. - 22. červen 2014. 2014. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub a Tomáš HAMPEJS. Náboženské představy a jejich přenos: od mysli a obsahu k tělu a kontextu. Pantheon: religionistický časopis. Pardubice: Univerzita Pardubice, 2014, roč. 9, č. 1, s. 113-138. ISSN 1803-2443. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Conversion. In Anne L. C. Runehov & Lluis Oviedo. Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions. Dordrecht: Springer, 2013, s. 502-506. ISBN 978-1-4020-8264-1. URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Náboženská konverzia ako kolektívne rozpomínanie. Sociální studia. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2013, roč. 10, č. 2, s. 63-83. ISSN 1214-813X. URL info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Abase yourself to convince others : Public Conversion Testimony of In-group and Out-group Converts. In IACSR Workshop: "Social Cognition and Religion", Berlin, 31.7.2013. 2013. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. You have to be born again : converting through narrative. In Ends and beginnings. The 11th Annual Conference of the EASR. The Special Conference of the IAHR, Stockholm, 23-26 August 2012. 2012. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Religious conversion as a tool for group affiliation and commitment : ethnographic research report. In Homo Experimentalis : Experimental approaches in the study of religion, Brno, 25-27 October 2012. 2012. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Connecting through emotional stories. In Biological and Cultural Evolution and Their Interactions. 2012. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Religious conversion and group dynamics. In Past, present, and future in the scientific study of religion, Brno, 1-3 March 2012. 2012. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Religious conversion as a commitment signal and strategy. In Explaining Religion: Method, Theory & Experiment. 2012. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. „...ak svojimi ústami vyznáš...“: náboženská konverzia ako signál oddanosti skupine. In Metodologické problémy v etnografickom výskume sociálnych reprezentácií, Ústav etnológie Slovenskej akadémie vied. 2012. info
• BRÁZDA, Radim; Jakub CIGÁN; Zdeňka JASTRZEMBSKÁ; Lukáš HODER; Eva KLOCOVÁ; M KOZLOVÁ; J OSIČKA a J VOTAVA. Společenské vědy pro střední školy - 4. díl (pracovní sešit). Brno: Didaktis, 2011, 104 s. ISBN 978-80-7358-176-3. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Pamäť a náboženská afiliácia: o čom nám hovoria spomienky konvertitu? Sacra. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2011, roč. 8, č. 1, s. 34-53. ISSN 1214-5351. On-line archiv časopisu info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Chasing a religious conversion. In Conference of European Association for the Study of Religions: "New Movements in Religions. Theories and Trends". 2011. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Islám. In BRÁZDA, Radim, Jakub CIGÁN, Zdeňka JASTRZEMBSKÁ, Lukáš HODER, Eva KLOCOVÁ, M KOZLOVÁ, J OSIČKA a J VOTAVA. Společenské vědy pro střední školy - 4. díl (pracovní sešit). Brno: DIDAKTIS, 2011, s. 56. ISBN 978-80-7358-176-3. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Hinduismus. In BRÁZDA, Radim, Jakub CIGÁN, Zdeňka JASTRZEMBSKÁ, Lukáš HODER, Eva KLOCOVÁ, M KOZLOVÁ, J OSIČKA a J VOTAVA. Společenské vědy pro střední školy - 4. díl (pracovní sešit). Brno: DIDAKTIS, 2011, s. 57. ISBN 978-80-7358-176-3. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Buddhismus. In BRÁZDA, Radim, Jakub CIGÁN, Zdeňka JASTRZEMBSKÁ, Lukáš HODER, Eva KLOCOVÁ, M KOZLOVÁ, J OSIČKA a J VOTAVA. Společenské vědy pro střední školy - 4. díl (pracovní sešit). Brno: DIDAKTIS, 2011, s. 58. ISBN 978-80-7358-176-3. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Nová náboženská hnutí a sekty. In BRÁZDA, Radim, Jakub CIGÁN, Zdeňka JASTRZEMBSKÁ, Lukáš HODER, Eva KLOCOVÁ, M KOZLOVÁ, J OSIČKA a J VOTAVA. Společenské vědy pro střední školy - 4. díl (pracovní sešit). Brno: DIDAKTIS, 2011, s. 59. ISBN 978-80-7358-176-3. info
• CIGÁN, Jakub. Metafora racionality náboženskej konverzie. In Dušan Lužný, David Václavík a kol. Individualizace náboženství a identita. Poznámky k současné sociologii náboženství. 1. vyd. Praha: Malvern, 2010, s. 176-202. ISBN 978-80-86702-69-8. info

2016/02/10