Ritual Explained?

Some Issues and Challenges for the Cognitive and Evolutionary Study of Rituals

Authors

  • Jakub Cigán LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion, Masaryk University, Czechia
  • Jan Krátký LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion, Masaryk University, Czechia
  • Radek Kundt LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion, Masaryk University, Czechia
  • Eva Kundtová Klocová LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion, Masaryk University, Czechia
  • Martin Lang LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion, Masaryk University, Czechia
  • Peter Maňo LEVYNA: Laboratory for the Experimental Research of Religion, Masaryk University, Czechia / Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.25413

Keywords:

ritual, anxiety , cooperation, costly signaling theory, religion

Abstract

This commentary highlights the important contributions of the target book to the cognitive and evolutionary study of religion and identifies several issues and challenges that should be addressed in future work. The crucial challenges pertain to the need for more thorough theoretical modeling of what religious beliefs add to the effects of ritual behavior, the need for longitudinal studies of mundane but frequently performed individual rituals, and the need for translating the results of basic research on rituals into applied outputs. We describe those challenges in detail and suggest potential remedies and future directions.

References

Bentzen, J. S. (2021). In crisis, we pray: Religiosity and the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 192, 541–583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.10.014

Chvaja, R., Chinchilla, J., Gomez, A., & Lang, M. (2023a). Religious costly signal induces more trustworthiness than secular costly signal: A study of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. European Journal of Social Psychology, 53(6), 1294-1308. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2975

Chvaja, R., Horský, J., Lang, M., & Kundt, R. (2023b). Positive association between ritual performance and perceived objectivity of moral norms. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 33(2), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2022.2121454

Cimino, A., & Thomas, B. J. (2022). Does hazing actually increase group solidarity? Re-examining a classic theory with a modern fraternity. Evolution and Human Behavior, 43(5), 408–417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.07.001

Durkheim, E. (1912). The elementary forms of the religious life. London: George Allen & Unwin.

Henrich, J., Bauer, M., Cassar, A., Chytilová, J., & Purzycki, B. (2019). War increases religiosity. Nature Human Behaviour, 3, 129–135. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0512-3

Konvalinka, I., Xygalatas, D., Bulbulia, J., Schjoedt, U., Jegindø, E.-M., Wallot, S., Van Orden, G., & Roepstorff, A. (2011). Synchronized arousal between performers and related spectators in a fire-walking ritual. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(20), 8514–8519. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1016955108

Kundt, R. (2018). Making evolutionary science of religion an integral part of cognitive science of religion. In A. K. Petersen et al. (Eds.), Evolution, Cognition, and the History of Religion: A New Synthesis (pp. 141–158). Leiden: Brill.

Lang, M. (2019). The evolutionary paths to collective rituals: An interdisciplinary perspective on the origins and functions of the basic social act. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 41(3), 224–252. https://doi.org/10.1177/0084672419894682

Lang, M., Chvaja, R., Purzycki, B. G., Václavík, D., & Stanek, R. (2022). Advertising cooperative phenotype through costly signals facilitates collective action. Royal Society Open Science, 9, 202202. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.202202

Lang, M., Krátký, J., & Xygalatas, D. (2020). The role of ritual behavior in anxiety reduction: An investigation of Marathi religious practices in Mauritius. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 375(1805), 20190431. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0431

———. (2022). Effects of predictable behavioral patterns on anxiety dynamics. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 19240. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23885-4

Lang, M., & Kundt, R. (2023). The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2023.2197977

———. (2020). Evolutionary, cognitive, and contextual approaches to the study of religious systems: A proposition of synthesis. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 32(1), 1–46. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700682-12341466

Lang, M., Purzycki, B. G., Apicella, C. L., Atkinson, Q. D., Bolyanatz, A., Cohen, E., Handley, C., Klocová, E. K., Lesorogol, C., Mathew, S., McNamara, R. A., Moya, C., Placek, C. D., Soler, M., Vardy, T., Weigel, J. L., Willard, A. K., Xygalatas, D., Norenzayan, A., & Henrich, J. (2019). Moralizing gods, impartiality, and religious parochialism across 15 societies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 286(1898), 1–10. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0202

Lang, M., Xygalatas, D., Kavanagh, C. M., Boccardi, N., Halberstadt, J., Jackson, C., Martínez, M., Reddish, P., Tong, E. M. W., Vázquez, A., Whitehouse, H., Yamamoto, M. E., Yuki, M., & Gomez, A. (2022). Outgroup threat and the emergence of cohesive groups: A cross-cultural examination. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 25(7), 1739–1759. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302211016961

Muthukrishna, M., & Henrich, J. (2019). A problem in theory. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(3), 221–229. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0522-1

Power, E. A. (2017). Discerning devotion: Testing the signaling theory of religion. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(1), 82–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.07.003

Purzycki, B. G., Apicella, C., Atkinson, Q. D., Cohen, E., McNamara, R. A., Willard, A. K., Xygalatas, D., Norenzayan, A., & Henrich, J. (2016). Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment and the expansion of human sociality. Nature, 530(7590), 327–330. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16980

Purzycki, B. G., Lang, M., Henrich, J., & Norenzayan, A. (2022). The Evolution of Religion and Morality project: Reflections and looking ahead. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 12(1–2), 190–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599x.2021.2021546

Rappaport, R. (1999). Ritual and religion in the making of humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Shaver, J. H., DiVietro, S., Lang, M., & Sosis, R. (2018). Costs do not explain variance in trust among secular groups. Journal of Cognition & Culture, 18(1–2), 180–204. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12340025

Sosis, R. (2003). Why aren’t we all Hutterites? Costly signaling theory and religious behavior. Human Nature, 14(2), 91–127.

Sosis, R., & Bressler, E. R. (2003). Cooperation and commune longevity: A test of the costly signaling theory of religion. Cross-Cultural Research, 37(2), 211–239. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069397103251426

Sosis, R., & Ruffle, B. J. (2003). Religious ritual and cooperation: Testing for a relationship on Israeli religious and secular kibbutzim. Current Anthropology, 44(5), 713–722. https://doi.org/10.1086/379260

Xygalatas, D., Konvalinka, I., Roepstorff, A., & Bulbulia, J. (2011). Quantifying collective effervescence: Heart-rate dynamics at a fire-walking ritual. Communicative & Integrative Biology, 4(6), 735–738. https://doi.org/10.4161/cib.4.6.17609

Downloads

Published

2024-10-22

Issue

ADVANCE ACCESS TO FORTHCOMING ARTICLES

Section

Book Panel

License

Equinox Publishing Ltd.

How to Cite

Cigán, J., Krátký, J., Kundt, R., Kundtová Klocová, E., Lang, M., & Maňo, P. (2024). Ritual Explained? Some Issues and Challenges for the Cognitive and Evolutionary Study of Rituals. Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1558/jcsr.25413