The relation between ritual actions and dogmatic systems is of central con- cern to both anthropology and to the academic study of religion. Because of its philological roots, the study of religion has tended to focus on systems of beliefs as coherent worldviews most evidently affecting behavior in ritual ac- tion. Anthropology, on the other hand, has been more concerned with actual behavior and therefore, to a large extent, focussed on ritual and its relation to social organization, and only subsequently turned its attention to beliefs as systems legitimizing and explaining the origin and form of both ritual action and social structure. Two types of explanations have emerged from this: Ei- ther systems of beliefs are seen as the primary thing causing the performance of ritual, or rituals are seen as the primary thing causing the construction of systems of beliefs. One of the problems common to both approaches is the lack of psychologically plausible theories explaining exactly how belief and action are related in religious traditions. How do people actually become mo- tivated to perform ritual actions? How are these motivations related to struc- tures of beliefs? What cognitive mechanisms are involved in both representa- tions of beliefs and in ritual performance (e.g., what role is played by basic cognitive mechanisms such as memory and categorization)? Harvey Whitehouse (1992, 1995, 2000, 2004) has addressed these ques- tions by means of a cognitive theory. Whitehouse argues that religions grav- itate toward two attractor positions, which he describes as “imagistic” and “doctrinal” modes of religiosity that respectively entail contrasting relations between ritual and beliefs. He argues that fundamental aspects of human cognition, especially memory, must be taken into account in order to explain why rituals tend to conform to either an imagistic mode based around low- frequency, high-arousal ritual performances, or a doctrinal mode with high 167 9 Charisma, Tradition, and Ritual: A Cognitive Approach to Magical Agency Jesper Sørensen 05-022 Ch 09.qxd 2/10/05 4:56 PM Page 167