When Novel Rituals Lead to Intergroup Bias: Evidence From Economic Games and Neurophysiology
Abstract
Long-established rituals in preexisting cultural groups have been linked to the cultural evolution of group cooperation. We tested the prediction that novel rituals—arbitrary hand and body gestures enacted in a stereotypical and repeated fashion—can inculcate intergroup bias in newly formed groups. In four experiments, participants practiced novel rituals at home for 1 week (Experiments 1, 2, and 4) or once in the lab (Experiment 3) and were divided into minimal in-groups and out-groups. Our results offer mixed support for the hypothesis that novel rituals promote intergroup bias. Specifically, we found a modest effect for daily repeated rituals but a null effect for rituals enacted only once. These results suggest that novel rituals can inculcate bias, but only when certain features are present: Rituals must be sufficiently elaborate and repeated to lead to bias. Taken together, our results offer modest support that novel rituals can promote intergroup bias.
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Two sets of experiments demonstrate that enacting a group ritual can reduce a deficit in affiliation.
“Two sets of experiments, in particular, demonstrate that enacting a group ritual can reduce a deficit in affiliation.”
From The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework (2018) · cites this paper as Hobson et al., 2017
Individuals who learned novel rituals reported less bias against outgroup members with the same ritual, but only when the ritual was sufficiently elaborate.
“In the second, individuals who learned novel rituals reported less bias against outgroup members with the same ritual, but only when the ritual was sufficiently elaborate (Hobson et al., 2017).”
From The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework (2018) · cites this paper as Hobson et al., 2017
Cites
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Synchronized arousal between performers and related spectators in a fire-walking ritual
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“…costliness has shown that more effortful rituals lead to greater group cooperation and more prosocial behaviors (Xygalatas et al., 2013), and that high-intensity rituals result in the synchronization of autonomic physiological activity between performers and observers (Konvalinka et al., 2011).”
BackgroundCooperation and Commune Longevity: A Test of the Costly Signaling Theory of Religion
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“Moreover, ethnographic evidence suggests that collective rituals are associated with effective group functioning, linking ritual to a group’s ability to withstand social collapse (Sosis & Bressler, 2003; Tuzin, 2001).”
BackgroundSacred bounds on rational resolution of violent political conflict
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Rituals alleviate grieving for loved ones, lovers, and lotteries.
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The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework
Hobson, N. M., Schroeder, J., Risen, J. L., Xygalatas, D., & Inzlicht, M. (2018) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868317734944 · Cited by 354 · see citing works
“In the second, individuals who learned novel rituals reported less bias against outgroup members with the same ritual, but only when the ritual was sufficiently elaborate (Hobson et al., 2017).”
BackgroundSelf-citation
- Authors
- Hobson, N. M., Gino, F., Norton, M. I., & Inzlicht, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Toronto (CA)
- Harvard Business School, Harvard University
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hobson, Nicholas M.
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-04-27
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 733-750
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- OpenAlex
- W2520657446
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 6
- FWCI
- 13.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- intergroup bias, in-group favoritism, cultural evolution, group cooperation, stereotypy, ritual repetition, economic games, neurophysiology
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Ceremonial Behavior, Female, Games, Experimental, Group Processes, Humans, Male, Neurophysiology, Trust, Young Adult, Economics, Behavioral
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