For my most updated publications, please visit my Google Scholar page. For pdfs of my published papers and preprints, please visit my ResearchGate page or contact me directly at kevintoyhong@gmail.com or zehong@um.edu.mo
Peer-reviewed Articles (* indicates student co-authors)
Hong, Z. Beyond (Irresolvable) Causal Opacity: The Instrumental Logic of Magical Rituals. Religion, Brain & Behavior, forthcoming. (Target article)
Tuohetibake, R. & Hong, Z. The Logic of Hot and Cold: Cognitive and Cultural Dynamics of Food Beliefs in a Uyghur community (2026). Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 13, 863.
Hong, Z. (2026). The Calendar in the Body: Cognition, Culture, and the Allure of Numerological Correspondence. Evolution and Human Behavior, 47(5), 106913.
Hong, Z. (2026). The Evolutionary-Cognitive Foundation and Cultural Persistence of Menstrual Taboos in Human Societies. Evolution and Human Behavior, 47(4), 106899.
Hong, Z. & Chen, Y. The Rhetoric of Disenchantment: Ghost Belief and Secular Critique in Early Twentieth-Century China. Cognitive Science, 50(1), e70158.
Hong, Z. & Henrich, J. (2026). Chance Neglect in Performance Judgements. Cognition, 268, 106375.
Hong, Z. (2026). Chance as a (non)explanation: a cross-cultural examination of folk understanding of chance and coincidence. Psychological Review, 133(3), 683-699.
Hong, Z. (2025). The Cognitive Foundations of Decline Narratives in Human Societies. Human Nature, 36, 531-562. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-025-09509-6
Hong, Z. (2025). Randomization, Ritual, and Cultural Evolution: Revisiting Omar Khayyam Moore’s “Divination: A New Perspective”. Nature Anthropology, 3(4), 10022.
Hong, Z., *Zhang, C. & *Wang, A. (2025). Evidential vulnerability of religious beliefs in the context of petitionary prayers. Cognitive Science, 49(12), e70163.
Hong, Z. & Henrich, J. (2025). Instrumentality, Empiricism, and Rationality in Nuosu Divination. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 15(4), 355-373. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2024.2363761
Hong, Z., & Chen, Y. (2024). Persuading the emperors: a quantitative historical analysis of political rhetoric in traditional China. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11(1), 1-10.
Hong, Z. (2024). The Cultural Evolution of Games of Chance – a Historical Investigation of Chinese Gambling. Human Nature, 35, 89-113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-024-09471-9
Hong, Z., Slingerland, E., & Henrich, J. (2024). Magic and Empiricism in Early Chinese Rainmaking – a Cultural Evolutionary analysis. Current Anthropology, 65(2), 343-363.
Hong, Z. & Henrich, J. (2024). The Cultural Evolution of Payoff Currencies and the Construction of Causal Theories. American Anthropologist, 126(1), 71-82.
Hong, Z. (2024). The Cognitive Origin and Cultural Evolution of Taboos in Human Societies. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 30(3), 724-742.
Hong, Z. (2024). Evolutionary Social Science – Past, Present and Future 演化社会科学 ——历史，现状和展望 (In Chinese). Social Research Methods Review 社会学方法评论, in press.
Hong, Z. & Zinin, S. (2023). The Psychology and Social Dynamics of Fetal Sex Prognostication in China: Evidence from Historical Data. American Anthropologist, 125(3), 519-531.
Hong, Z. (2023). The Evolution of Inclusive Folk Biological Labels and the Cultural Maintenance of Meaning. Human Nature, 34, 177-201. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-023-09446-2
Hong, Z. (2023). The Cultural Evolution of Medical Technologies: A Model of Sequential Treatment in the Medical Setting. Human Nature, 34, 64–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-02309441-7
Hong, Z. (2022). Ghost, Divination, and Magic among the Nuosu: An Ethnographic Examination from Cognitive and Cultural Evolutionary Perspectives. Human Nature, 33, 349-379.
Hong, Z. (2022). Combining Conformist and Payoff Bias in Cultural Evolution: An Integrated Model for Human Decision Making. Human Nature, 33, 463-484.
Hong, Z. (2022). A Cognitive Account of Manipulative Sympathetic Magic. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 12(3), 254-270. DOI: 10.1080/2153599X.2021.2006294
Hong, Z. (2022). Dream Interpretation from a Cognitive and Cultural Evolutionary Perspective: The Case of Oneiromancy in Traditional China. Cognitive Science, 46: e13088. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13088
Xiao, E., Jin, J., Hong, Z., & Zhang, J. (2022). The Relationship Between Children and Their Maternal Uncles: A Unique Parenting Mode in Mosuo Culture. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 873137-873137.
Henrich, J., Blasi, D., Curtin, C., Davis, H., Hong, Z., Kelly, D., & Kroupin, I. (2022). A Cultural Species and its Cognitive Phenotypes. Review of Philosophy and Psychology. 14(2), 349-386.
Hong, Z. & Henrich, J. (2021). The Cultural Evolution of Epistemic Practices – the Case of Divination. Human Nature, 32, 622-651. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110–021–09408–6
Hong, Z. (2021). The Population Dynamics of the Placebo Effect and Its Role in the Evolution of Medical Technology. Human Ecology, 50(1), 11-12.
Hong, Z. (2020). Modelling the On–going Natural Selection of Educational Attainment in Contemporary Societies. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 493, 110210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110210
Book Reviews, Invited Commentaries and Encyclopedia Entries
Hong, Z. The dark side of the sighted watchmaker: how retrospective tinkering builds cultural traps. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, forthcoming. (Commentary)
Hong, Z. The Nature of Goals in Subjective Selection: Origins, Shaping Forces, and Salience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, forthcoming. (Commentary)
Hong, Z. & Boudry, M. (2025). Is religion just make-believe, or only for some WEIRD people? : A Call for More Evidence and Caution. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2025.2517562. (Book Review)
Hong, Z. (2024). Divination. In: Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Religious Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-38971-9_1447-1
Hong, Z. (2023). A Need to Better Understand the Evolutionary Process of Beliefs about Gods’ Concerns. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 1-3. DOI: 10.1080/2153599X.2023.2178490. (Commentary)
Hong, Z. (2023). The Value of Sociogenomics in Understanding Genetic Evolution in Contemporary Human Populations. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, E217. doi:10.1017/S0140525X22002424 (Commentary)
Hong, Z. (2022). The Ritual Stance does not Apply to Magic in general. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, E258. doi:10.1017/S0140525X2200139X. (Commentary)
Manuscripts submitted
Hong, Z. Religious Doctrines as Psychological Inoculations: Forewarning, Refutational Preemption, and the Cultural Evolution of Belief Persistence. Revise & Resubmit requested by Religion, Brain & Behavior.
Li, C.*, Wang, L*. Chen, Y, & Hong, Z. Divination by prompt: Large-Language Model and “Xuanxue” in Chinese social media. Under review.
Hong, Z. Does Fiction Come Naturally? Rethinking Fictional Storytelling across Human Societies. Under review.
Chen, Y., Atari, M., Slingerland, E., Hong, Z., Fu, X., Wang, H., … Henrich, J. Psychological Change and Kinship Intensity in China over Two Millennia. Under review.
Manuscripts in preparation
Hong, Z., Wang, Y. & Chen. Y. Rain Magic in late Qing and Early Republic China: A Cognitive-Historical Analysis. In preparation.
Hong, Z. Beyond (Irresolvable) Causal Opacity: The Instrumental Logic of Magical Rituals. In preparation.
Books
Hong, Z. (2025). Divination: A Cognitive Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Popular Science Writings & Media Coverage
The Biological and Cultural Nature of Homo Sapiens (人类的文化性和生物性) – Book review of
The Secret of Our Success by Joseph Henrich (In Chinese)
Cultural Taboos Arise from a Basic Feature of the Human Mind. Psyche.co.
The Age of Digital Divination. Sapiens.org
Ze (Kevin) Hong 