The Social Functions of Group Rituals

Abstract

Convergent developments across social scientific disciplines provide evidence that ritual is a psychologically prepared, culturally inherited, behavioral trademark of our species. We draw on evidence from the anthropological and evolutionary-science literatures to offer a psychological account of the social functions of ritual for group behavior. Solving the adaptive problems associated with group living requires psychological mechanisms for identifying group members, ensuring their commitment to the group, facilitating cooperation with coalitions, and maintaining group cohesion. The intersection of these lines of inquiry yields new avenues for theory and research on the evolution and ontogeny of social group cognition.

Traditional Rice Farming Ritual Practices of the Banjar Tribe Farmers in South Kalimantan

“…In line with this, Smith [3] explains that although the beliefs of society change, some religious rituals are preserved in order to reinforce their social unity. This is in line with the opinion of the [13] rituals reduce individual-level conflicts inherent in group living, a Necessary condition for coalitional Achieving goals. Precisely religious ritual is done not just to worship and closer to God Almighty, but also done to fulfill social obligation.…”

How language shapes the cultural inheritance of categories

“…Every animal species uses categories to organize their representations of experience, identify newly encountered instances, and make predictive inferences, from pigeons identifying food to voles identifying kin. Categories are also a foundational component of socially transmitted behaviors, such as tool use (categories are needed to identify potential tools), vocalizations to warn of danger (categories are needed to identify predators), or rituals to maintain group cohesion (social categories are needed to decide whom to copy) (20,21).…”

Feeling hurt: advances in the social psychology of pain

“…While some have argued for the effects of memory (Richert et al, 2005) or attentional focus (Bastian, Jetten, & Ferris, 2014) there is as yet no empirical consensus on how such experiences might increase feelings of bondedness and identification with others. One line of work has argued that participation in extreme rituals, such as those involving collective pain, provides a signal to others about our values or attributes (Atran & Henrich, 2010;Watson-Jones & Legare, 2016) -in essence, revealing social information to others around us about who we are. Considering cognitive processes at the individual level, Fredrickson (2000) proposed that moments of peak affect evoke the most meaningmaking and reveal information to oneself about 'how much you can handle' (p. 592) -providing evidence of a person's own vulnerabilities and abilities to contend with the vicissitudes of experiential life.…”

“…Social observers are highly motivated to obtain information about the moral qualities of others (Uhlmann, Pizarro, & Diermeier, 2015). Affective states and displays provide social information of moral relevance that the observer can utilise to make inferences about the moral character of the target, and their propensity to undertake relevant behaviours that signal character (Szczurek, Monin, & Gross, 2012;Uhlmann et al, 2015;Watson-Jones & Legare, 2016).…”

“…Due to the brevity of our measurement techniques however, there is low resolution in terms of the content of the 'self-revelation' construct. Fleshing out this psychological construct will allow us to understand what precisely was being revealed and to what end -was it revelation of penumbral psychological or bodily mastery (as suggested by Fredrickson, 2000;Klein, 2014;Rozin et al, 2013); or authenticity, vulnerability, or values (Rossano, 2012;Watson-Jones & Legare, 2016)? The content of these revelations cannot be determined with the present data.…”