Journal article
Images from a jointly-arousing collective ritual reveal affective polarization
Victoria University of Wellington1
Masaryk University2
Aarhus University3
Complutense University4
The University of Auckland5
Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark6
Cognitive Systems, Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark7
Collective rituals are biologically ancient and culturally pervasive, yet few studies have quantified their effects on participants. We assessed two plausible models from qualitative anthropology: ritual empathy predicts affective convergence among all ritual participants irrespective of ritual role; rite-of-passage predicts emotional differences, specifically that ritual initiates will express relatively negative valence when compared with non-initiates.
To evaluate model predictions, images of participants in a Spanish fire-walking ritual were extracted from video footage and assessed by nine Spanish raters for arousal and valence. Consistent with rite-of-passage predictions, we found that arousal jointly increased for all participants but that valence differed by ritual role: fire-walkers exhibited increasingly positive arousal and increasingly negative valence when compared with passengers.
This result offers the first quantified evidence for rite of passage dynamics within a highly arousing collective ritual. Methodologically, we show that surprisingly simple and non-invasive data structures (rated video images) may be combined with methods from evolutionary ecology (Bayesian Generalized Linear Mixed Effects models) to clarify poorly understood dimensions of the human condition.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | Frontiers Media S.A. |
Year: | 2013 |
Pages: | 960 |
ISSN: | 16641078 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00960 |
ORCIDs: | 0000-0003-1561-9327 and Konvalinka, Ivana |
Arousal BF1-990 Psychology Valence evolution fire multi-level religion ritual