The cultural morphospace of ritual form
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Trance states induced by processes including ecstatic dance, extreme rituals involving threat to body safety, and sensory deprivation are often components of high-arousal, imagistic rituals that create greater group cohesion through the shared experience of intense stimulation.
“Trance states induced by processes including ecstatic dance (union of synchronistic motion with sound (Nummenmaa et al. 2012; Wiltermuth and Heath 2009)), extreme rituals involving threat to body safety (i.e. the cavadee, sun dance, firewalking-see Fischer and Xygalatas 2014; Xygalatas et al. 2013; Fischer et al. 2014) and sensory deprivation are often components of high-arousal, imagistic rituals”
From Cultural Evolution of Religion, Spirituality and Ritual: Impacts On Human Cooperation (2024) · cites this paper as Atkinson and Whitehouse 2011
Cites
Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323 · Cited by 7,678 · see citing works
Cooperation and Commune Longevity: A Test of the Costly Signaling Theory of Religion
Sosis, R., & Bressler, E. R. (2003) · Cross-Cultural Research · doi:10.1177/1069397103037002003 · Cited by 569 · cited 2× · see citing works
“, hazing, painful initiation rites), both as a mechanism of bonding and perhaps as a form of costly signalling to demonstrate group commitment (Irons, 1996; Sosis & Alcorta, 2003; Sosis and Bressler, 2003; Sosis et al., 2007).”
BackgroundChildren of Chowchilla: A Study of Psychic Trauma
Terr, L. C. (1979) · The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child · doi:10.1080/00797308.1979.11823018 · Cited by 383 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…1987), and in psychological research, for instance examining recall for violent crimes (Yuille and Cutshall, 1986), one-off childhood traumas (Terr, 1979, 1983), war veterans, rape victims (Christiansen & Nilsson, 1989), and even the onset of the menarche in girls poorly prepared for the…”
BackgroundJohnson, D. D. P. (2005) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-005-1017-0 · Cited by 323 · see citing works
Roes, F. (2003) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/s1090-5138(02)00134-4 · Cited by 286 · cited 2× · see citing works
“In line with previous work (Johnson 2005; Roes & Raymond, 2003), the last-named ‘high gods’ variable was also recoded as a binary variable representing the presence or absence of moralising high gods.”
BackgroundResultSOSIS, R., KRESS, H., & BOSTER, J. (2007) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.02.007 · Cited by 276 · see citing works
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The Ties That Bind Us: Ritual, Fusion, and Identification
Whitehouse, H., & Lanman, J. A. (2014) · Current Anthropology · doi:10.1086/678698 · Cited by 509 · see citing works
Self-citationMcKay, R., & Whitehouse, H. (2015) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0038455 · Cited by 353 · see citing works
Self-citationThe extended religious phenotype and the adaptive coupling of ritual and belief
Purzycki, B. G., & Sosis, R. (2013) · Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution · doi:10.1080/15659801.2013.825433 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
The Positive Consequences of Pain: A Biopsychosocial Approach
Bastian, B., Jetten, J., Hornsey, M. J., & Leknes, S. (2014) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868314527831 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Gendron, M., Mesquita, B., & Barrett, L. F. (2020) · Culture, Mind, and Brain · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.010 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Cultural Evolution of Religion, Spirituality and Ritual: Impacts On Human Cooperation
McNamara, R. A. (2024) · KZfSS Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie · doi:10.1007/s11577-024-00937-3 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“…wellbeing can be seen for both the more calm and introspective rituals such as prayer and meditation as well as the more activating, extreme rituals such as fire walking and other rites of initiation used in small-scale societies around the world (Atkinson and Whitehouse 2011; Fischer et al. 2014).”
- Authors
- Atkinson, Q. D., & Whitehouse, H.
- Affiliations
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Atkinson, Quentin D.
- Venue
- Evolution and Human Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-01
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 50-62
- ISSN
- 1090-5138 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2005552093
- Cited by
- 259
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 47 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 29.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Evolution and Human Behavior (publishedVersion)
- Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) (University of Oxford) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Keywords
- ritual forms, dysphoric arousal, group size, social structure, origins of civilization, religious rituals, cross-cultural comparison
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