Regarded as one of the founders of the cognitive science of religion, Harvey Whitehouse is a statutory Chair in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford. Whitehouse's research deals primarily with religion in rituals. He is especially well known for his theory of "modes of religiosity" which proposes that the frequency and emotionality of rituals determine the scale and structure of religious organisations.

He is the author of several books, including Inheritance and The Ritual Animal. His popular writing has appeared in the BBC, New Scientist, and many more publications.