.Thursday Words:..social function of group ritual...

 The social functions of group ritual

(2010?)

'Convergent developments across social scientific disciplines provide evidence that ritual is a
psychologically prepared, culturally inherited, behavioral trademark of our species. We draw on
evidence from the anthropological and evolutionary science literatures to provide a
psychological account of the social functions of ritual for group behavior. Solving the adaptive
problems associated with group living requires psychological mechanisms for identifying group
members, ensuring their commitment to the group, facilitating cooperation with coalitions, and
maintaining group cohesion. The intersection of these lines of inquiry promises to provide new
avenues for theory and research on the evolution and ontogeny of social group cognition.' read article at the link.

comment:

I still kind of.... smell that group rituals can transiently but dramatically effect individual functional equilibrium and pathways even to a point of specific suspension, maybe indirectly via thalamic and hypothalamic re-contextualization. (sorry for using a rather uncomfortable non-existent word. I have faith that its intent is nevertheless ...understood.)

Obvious examples would be: violent reactions to sensory dissonance in Dionysic rituals (with or without the booze and drugs); audience reactions to the first showings of Pirandello's 'characters in search of'; Stravinski's 'Rites of Spring' (in both later cases thinking of theatre as ritual location or locus); crashing financial markets (a kind of digital location.) In such instances we have faith that the herd is correct and most usually follow it but not because it creates a more elaborate edifice communicable through verbal language. The opposite occurs. Faith suspends abstract and lingual reasoning. Though those are obviously group events in which the individual is largely suspended, similar mechanisms might be involved in more intimate, individual circumstances.

I suppose I'm playing a bit the devil's advocate but articulating as precisely as possible what neurophysiology might underpin the perhaps differing forms of faith is, I think, important. As is identifying the nuances of those forms as they vary from person to person. And those differences might not be as direct as, say... those between a dead cat and a live one. Then again....