Ritual and Psychology

[LARA]

Ritual has no supernatural effects, but what about the psychological aspects?  I'm not buying any of the religious silliness associated with some display, but honestly I find the artistic process of ritual to be rather fascinating, whether it be a Catholic Mass, a Buddhist blessing, a Wiccan spell or some poor OCD bastard's ritualistic handwashing.  Okay maybe not the handwashing.  So religion is bunk, but ritual, ritual is cool.  Ritual is psychology, art and history all rolled into one fascinating package.  Ritual and anthropology can still be appreciated from a scientific perspective even though the ineffectual nature of the ritual can be disregarded.  So am I alone in this fascination with ritualistic displays?  What are some cool or bizarre rituals you have seen or read about?  What do rituals have to say about the psychology of the practitioners?

[Arthur Dent]

Coolest ritual ever...



When put in a skinner box with random reward timing, pigeons will undertake superstitious rituals, consisting of rythmic headbobbing, walking in circles, jumping back and forth and even running into walls. The birds begin to associate their random meandering to a cause for the arrival of the food. Whenever the food comes, the bird hooks onto whatever motion it was doing and continues to do it until the next feeding, very much like that "lucky pair of socks" that we wore in the little league world series...

[Tom62]

Rituals has a strong placebo effect. Recently there was a very interesting scientific experiment on German TV about faith healing. An actress dressed up like a spiritual healer , opened a fake alternative healing practice and invented some weird rituals with incense burning, chanting, etc. This looked so impressive on the people that visited her for a consult that they actually believed the ritual had a positive effect on their pain problems. An even more impressive example was an experiment with a young lady who had a nut allergy. She almost died a couple years ago when she ate a walnut cake at her parents house. In the experiment she let her treat herself by a real alternative healer for 3/4 of an hour and then eat a nut. This experiment partially succeeded, because she had no problems eating nuts. The effect however didn't last, because after 3 month she became allergic for them again. or that I believe that it really doesn't matter who performs the ritual or how silly that ritual looks like for others.  As long as people believe in the ritual itself, they may get a positive effect out of it.

[Wraitchel]

Define ritual. I enjoyed a Bat Mitzvah ritual recently, and decided that it was so beneficial for the honored child that I would find a secular rite of passage for my kiddos when they are of age. I determined that my ritual should include a challenge to overcome (physical or intellectual prowess demonstrated), a social service to perform (to show how easy it is to find a meaningful place in society and to align oneself with the force for good), a party to acknowledge the important passage into adulthood, and a token reminder (probably jewelry. I could also have included gifts of money from guests as a symbolic good luck gesture with teeth. Worthwhile, I think. I also think that non-deists miss out on community support, which is an important element in any ritual.

As for magic rituals such as prayer and benediction and absolution...pure bullcrap with no value whatsoever.

[LARA]

Interesting, tom62.  Placebo effect is something scientifically demonstrable and very odd.  Did they have an epinephrine shot handy for the nut allergy girl in case the faith healing didn't take?

Immune reactions seem to be tied in with the limbic system and stress from what I've read.  It's an interesting topic.  But the placebo effect is limited to certain types of physical reactions, there are no placebo's for broken legs, for example.  

(Ummm.  Not that you don't know that   )  I suppose one could argue that some human ritual begins as operant conditioning.  It's an interesting topic.

[Wraitchel]

Prayer, benediction, and absolution don't deliver anything identifiably beneficial. They may make a person feel good if they believe in that hooey, but it is magical thinking at its least logical.

[LARA]

Thanks for the clarification.  I think your rite of passage ritual is a pretty cool idea, I'm going to have to look up more on Bat Mitzvah celebrations now.  I'm kind of curious about what you think you might do.  What kind of physical or intellectual challenge do you think you might pick?  Would you tailor it to the individual child or try to come up with a standard for all your kids?  How close to the Bat Mitzvah do you think you might make it, or are you starting from scratch with your own personal symbolism?