Scars for war: evaluating alternative signaling explanations for cross-cultural variance in ritual costs
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Participation in a religion has costs for the participant, including time and effort involved in learning and practicing a religion, loss of opportunity to engage in other beneficial activities, and risks such as avoidance of modern medical care or extended fasting.
“Participation in a religion has certain costs for the participant, which include the time and effort involved in learning a religion and practicing it, the loss of opportunity to engage in other beneficial activities (opportunity costs), and risks such as the avoidance of modern medical care or extended fasting (Sosis et al. 2007).”
From Parasite-stress promotes in-group assortative sociality: The cases of strong family ties and heightened religiosity (2012) · cites this paper as Sosis et al. 2007
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“To evaluate these arguments, Sosis and colleagues (Ruffle and Sosis submitted, Sosis 2000a; Sosis and Bressler 2003; Sosis and Ruffle 2003, 2004) examined the role of ritual behavior in overcoming the inherent collective action problems of cooperative labor that communal societies confront.”
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- Authors
- SOSIS, R., KRESS, H., & BOSTER, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Corresponding author
- SOSIS, R
- ORCID
- SOSIS, R
- Venue
- Evolution and Human Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2007-07
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 234-247
- ISSN
- 1090-5138 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1987672856
- Cited by
- 276
- References
- 78
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 24 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 11.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Evolution and Human Behavior (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Keywords
- costly signaling, war, group commitment, collective action, mating competition, cross-cultural variation, male solidarity
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