Knowledge Tree
ritual
Also known as: rituals
Facts (24)
Sources
Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution frontiersin.org 15 facts
claimRituals are socially stipulated, conventional behaviors that are critical for group social interaction and drive cultural transmission within and between generations, according to Legare and Nielsen (2020).
claimThe authors of 'Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution' identify four interrelated psychedelic instrumentalization goals: management of psychological distress and health problems, improved social interaction and interpersonal relations, facilitation of collective ritual and religious activities, and enhanced group decision-making.
referenceMichael J. Winkelman authored the article 'An ethnological analogy and biogenetic model for interpretation of religion and ritual in the past', published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory in 2021.
claimShamans performed ritual and medicinal functions based on special knowledge and supernatural qualities, such as the alleged capacity to magically kill others, which generated fear.
claimRitual elements such as cultural expectations, mimetic enactments, verbal displays, songs, and dances serve an important function in enabling healing alongside the use of psychedelic substances.
referenceP. Boyer and P. Liénard analyzed the ingredients of rituals and their cognitive underpinnings in 2020.
claimThe exact timing of when human ancestors first deliberately used consciousness-altering substances in rituals is likely to remain uncertain.
referenceThe paper 'Ritual explained: interdisciplinary answers to Tinbergen’s four questions' was published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences in 2020, providing an interdisciplinary perspective on ritual.
claimRituals are particularly crucial during times of transition, risk, and uncertainty in the human lifespan, according to Legare and Nielsen (2020).
claimIn humans, rituals serve social, psychological, and instrumental functions, including signaling commitment to others, binding group members together, and reducing individual and collective anxiety, as stated by Boyer and Liénard (2020), Legare and Nielsen (2020), and Nielsen et al. (2020).
referenceH. Whitehouse and J. A. Lanman's 2014 article in Current Anthropology discusses the role of ritual in social fusion and identification.
claimIn traditional cultures, rituals often have goals related to survival and reproductive success, such as curing an illness, harming a rival, or ensuring success in hunting, according to Rossano (2020).
claimRituals often involve synchronic movement, causally opaque action, and both euphoric and dysphoric arousal, as noted by Whitehouse and Lanman (2014) and Boyer and Liénard (2020).
referenceNielsen et al. (2020) published 'Homo neanderthalensis and the evolutionary origins of ritual in Homo sapiens' in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, discussing the evolutionary origins of ritual.
claimEarly religious forms developed within the context of intense and immersive experiences involving music, ritual, and dance, likely combined with the use of psychedelics and other mind-altering techniques.
The Mechanisms of Psychedelic Visionary Experiences - Frontiers frontiersin.org Sep 27, 2017 5 facts
claimExpressive manifestations of mimesis, such as dance, music, and ritual, provided a publicly accessible system of meaning for early humans.
referenceThe paper 'The essential role of ritual in the transmission and reinforcement of social norms' by M. Rossano, published in Psychological Bulletin in 2012, analyzes how rituals function to maintain social norms.
referenceThe chapter 'Setting our own terms: how we used ritual to become human' by M. Rossano, published in 'Neuroscience, Consciousness and Spirituality' (Springer, 2011), discusses the role of ritual in human development.
claimPsychedelic effects enhance the primary social functions of rituals by tuning interpersonal dynamics.
referenceThe paper 'Ritual behavior and the origins of modern cognition' by M. Rossano, published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal in 2009, explores the relationship between ritual and cognitive evolution.
Ancient Roots of Today's Emerging Renaissance in ... link.springer.com 2 facts
referenceFrits Staal (2001) examines how a psychoactive substance becomes a ritual, specifically using the case of Soma.
referenceMelanie Miller, Juan Albarracin-Jordan, Christine Moore, and Jose Capriles published a 2019 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences titled 'Chemical evidence for the use of multiple psychotropic plants in a 1,000-year-old ritual bundle from South America' which provides chemical evidence of multi-plant psychotropic use in ancient South American rituals.
Altered states of consciousness – Knowledge and References taylorandfrancis.com 1 fact
referenceAnthropological accounts of altered states of consciousness induced by ritual suggest a two-part distinction in ways of experiencing, similar to the distinction found in hypnosis research (Cardeña, 1996).
the consumption of psychoactive plants in ancient global and ... academia.edu 1 fact
claimHumans have a long history of using natural resources, particularly plants, to induce nonordinary states of consciousness, which are linked to ancient knowledge systems and rituals.