2026 Scott Atran: Psychology Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Psychology	53	4698	4351	504	476	134	21594

Overview

Scott Atran is affiliated with the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and has contributed extensively to the fields of social sciences, particularly focusing on sociology and political science as well as social psychology. Their research covers a range of topics centered on political violence, intergroup relations, and psychological processes related to moral and emotional judgment.

The main topics addressed in their work include:

Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
Social and Intergroup Psychology
Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
Religion and Society Interactions
Crime Patterns and Interventions

Scott Atran's research is frequently published in venues such as the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal de la Société des Américanistes, Annual Review of Psychology, Scientific Reports, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. This diverse range of publication outlets reflects a multidisciplinary approach crossing social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and political science.

Selected recent papers authored or co-authored by Scott Atran include:

Psychology of Transnational Terrorism and Extreme Political Conflict, 2020, Annual Review of Psychology
Willingness to sacrifice among convicted Islamist terrorists versus violent gang members and other criminals, 2022, Scientific Reports
Threat Enhances Aggressive Inclinations Among Devoted Actors Via Increase in Their Relative Physical Formidability, 2020, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Spiritual over physical formidability determines willingness to fight and sacrifice through loyalty in cross-cultural populations, 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Transcultural pathways to the will to fight, 2023, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

The scientist frequently collaborates with other researchers, notably Ángel Gómez, Alexandra Vázquez, Clara Pretus, Luis Marcos-Vidal, and Lucía López-Rodríguez. These co-authors have contributed alongside Scott Atran in multiple publications, indicating ongoing collaborative research partnerships.

Best Publications

In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion

Scott Atran

2464
Citations
Cognitive foundations of natural history: Towards an anthropology of science.

Scott Atran

1514
Citations
Cognitive Foundations of Natural History

Scott Atran

1471
Citations
Genesis of Suicide Terrorism

Scott Atran

1317
Citations
Religion's evolutionary landscape: Counterintuition, commitment, compassion, communion

Scott Atran;Ara Norenzayan

1280
Citations
Folk biology and the anthropology of science: Cognitive universals and cultural particulars

Scott Atran

1145
Citations
The native mind: biological categorization and reasoning in development and across cultures.

Douglas L. Medin;Scott Atran

652
Citations
The native mind and the cultural construction of nature.

Scott Atran;Douglas L. Medin

636
Citations
The Evolution of Religion: How Cognitive By-Products, Adaptive Learning Heuristics, Ritual Displays, and Group Competition Generate Deep Commitments to Prosocial Religions

Scott Atran;Joseph Henrich

616
Citations
Categorization and Reasoning among Tree Experts: Do All Roads Lead to Rome?☆

Douglas L. Medin;Elizabeth B. Lynch;John D. Coley;Scott Atran

594
Citations
The cultural mind: environmental decision making and cultural modeling within and across populations.

Scott Atran;Douglas L. Medin;Norbert O. Ross

528
Citations
The tree of life: Universal and cultural features of folkbiological taxonomies and inductions

Alejandro López;Scott Atran;John D. Coley;Douglas L. Medin

515
Citations
Sacred bounds on rational resolution of violent political conflict

Jeremy Ginges;Scott Atran;Scott Atran;Douglas Medin;Khalil Shikaki

514
Citations
Religious and Sacred Imperatives in Human Conflict

Scott Atran;Scott Atran;Scott Atran;Jeremy Ginges

501
Citations
Memory and Mystery: The Cultural Selection of Minimally Counterintuitive Narratives.

Ara Norenzayan;Scott Atran;Jason Faulkner;Mark Schaller

497
Citations
Talking to the Enemy: Faith, Brotherhood, and the (Un)Making of Terrorists

Scott Atran

488
Citations
Cultural mosaics and mental models of nature.

Megan Bang;Douglas L. Medin;Scott Atran;Scott Atran;Scott Atran

483
Citations
The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism

Scott Atran

454
Citations
Cultural and experiential differences in the development of folkbiological induction

Norbert Ross;Douglas Medin;John D. Coley;Scott Atran

379
Citations
Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution

Scott Atran;Robert Axelrod;Richard Davis

376
Citations
FOLKBIOLOGY DOESN'T COME FROM FOLKPSYCHOLOGY: EVIDENCE FROM YUKATEK MAYA IN CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Scott Atran;Douglas Medin;Elizabeth Lynch;Valentina Vapnarsky

280
Citations
Reframing Sacred Values

Scott Atran;Scott Atran;Scott Atran;Robert Axelrod

274
Citations
A bird's eye view: biological categorization and reasoning within and across cultures.

Jeremy N Bailenson;Michael S Shum;Scott Atran;Scott Atran;Douglas L Medin

259
Citations
Folkecology and commons management in the Maya Lowlands

Scott Atran;Douglas L Medin;Norbert Ross;Elizabeth Lynch

255
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Douglas L. Medin Northwestern University

John D. Coley Northeastern University

Ángel Gómez National University of Distance Education

Ara Norenzayan University of British Columbia

Baruch Fischhoff Carnegie Mellon University

Jeremy N. Bailenson Stanford University

Susan A. Gelman University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

Richard S. John University of Southern California

Edward E. Smith Columbia University

Clark McCauley Bryn Mawr College

External Links

Wikipedia of Scott Atran Personal website of Scott Atran

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