Abstract

This article proposes the Human Behavioral Ecology of Religion (HBER) as a research program for contemporary issues in Korean religious culture. The core premise is that religious beliefs, rituals, and organizations are conditional strategies chosen under ecological, economic, and demographic constraints, and that behavior and outcomes change predictably with environments. We organize the analysis around the causal chain Environment ( ) → Constraints ( ) → Actions ( ) → Outcomes ( ) and synthesize hypotheses on costly signaling, supernatural monitoring/punishment, credibility‑enhancing displays (CREDs), life‑history strategies, and risk management/insurance. We extend the scope to ritual morphospaces (frequency, synchrony, arousal, sensory modes), music/sound, mortuary practices, and disaster rituals. Methodologically, we integrate ethnography with behavioral measures, field/quasi experiments, cross cultural and historical data, and digital traces, estimated with hierarchical Bayesian models and causal inference designs (difference‑in‑differences, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity). For Korea, we propose testable agendas on funerary choices, disaster rituals and community resilience, ritual diversity, acoustic ecology, high‑cost Protestant practices, temple labor/giving norms, shamanic risk management, youth life‑history strategies, and hybrid online–offline rituals. To ensure cumulative science, we outline a common variable dictionary, open protocols, ethics and community feedback. HBER complements interpretive traditions with predictive, testable models and yields policy‑relevant insights into cooperation, wellbeing, and resilience in Korean society.