Anthropologist Paul Radin identified shamans across multiple traditional and indigenous cultures as 'half crazy' individuals who exhibit schizotypal personality traits, including trances, communication with the dead, metamagical beliefs, and extended periods of social isolation.

normativepending

Speaker

Robert Sapolsky

Evidence Quote

an anthropologist named Paul Radin gave what I find to be very convincingly the answer to that question...there would be an individual who he would call 'half crazy.' Half crazy. Who was he talking about? Shamans.

Source

31. Religious Belief by Robert SapolskyStanford School of Humanities and Sciences
Created: 8/12/2026, 5:59:56 PM

My Notes

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