Precaution systems and ritualized behavior
Abstract
In reply to commentary on our target article, we supply further evidence and hypotheses in the description of ritualized behaviors in humans. Reactions to indirect fitness threats probably activate specialized precaution systems rather than a unified form of danger-avoidance or causal reasoning. Impairment of precaution systems may be present in pathologies other than obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), autism in particular. Ritualized behavior is attention-grabbing enough to be culturally transmitted whether or not it is associated with group identity, cohesion, or with any other social aspect of collective ceremonies.
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Religious faith becomes more appealing after reminders of tragic suffering, danger, randomness, and death.
“Researchers have discovered that religious faith becomes more appealing after reminders of tragic suffering [6], danger [7], randomness [8] and death [9].”
From Faith after an Earthquake: A Longitudinal Study of Religion and Perceived Health before and after the 2011 Christchurch New Zealand Earthquake (2012) · cites this paper as [7]
Rituals are typically chunked into segmented action units that become sequenced, patterned, and repeated in fixed or bounded ways.
“Unlike other behaviors, rituals are typically chunked into units of segmented action, which then become sequenced, patterned, and repeated in fixed or bounded ways (Boyer & Liénard, 2006;Nielbo & Sørensen, 2011, 2015).”
From The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework (2018) · cites this paper as Boyer & Liénard, 2006
Rituals serve many psychological functions.
“Despite rituals' lack of clear instrumental purpose, it is now well known that rituals serve many psychological functions (e.g., Boyer & Liénard, 2006;Watson-Jones & Legare, 2016).”
From The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework (2018) · cites this paper as Boyer & Liénard, 2006
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The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework
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“Researchers have discovered that religious faith becomes more appealing after reminders of tragic suffering [6], danger [7], randomness [8] and death [9].”
BackgroundRETRACTED: Don’t stop believing: Rituals improve performance by decreasing anxiety
Brooks, A. W., Schroeder, J., Risen, J. L., Gino, F., Galinsky, A. D., Norton, M. I., & Schweitzer, M. E. (2016) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.07.004 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
RetractedSearching for Control: Priming Randomness Increases the Evaluation of Ritual Efficacy
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- Authors
- Boyer, P., & Linard, P.
- Affiliations
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Department of Psychology Washington University in St. Louis
- Corresponding author
- Boyer, Pascal
- ORCID
- Boyer, Pascal
- Venue
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2006-12
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 635-650
- ISSN
- 0140-525X (ISSN-L)
- 1469-1825
- OpenAlex
- W2020632503
- Cited by
- 76
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behavioral and Brain Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- ritualized behavior, danger avoidance, causal reasoning, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, cultural transmission, group identity, attention
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