Repetitious magic rituals are thought to be more effective

Last updated on: November 12, 2014 at 3:31 am by Epiphenom

Repetitious magic rituals are thought to be more effective 2014-11-12T03:31:32+01:00 Epiphenom

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Magical rituals – routines designed to bring about a real-world effect, like curing disease or cursing a rival – have been part of human society since as far back as anyone can tell. So, as a species, we’ve had plenty of time to sort out what works and what doesn’t.

But the question is, do people have a gut feeling for what makes a good ritual? To find out, Cristine Legare (University of Texas at Austin) headed to the city of Belo Horizonte, located in the south-eastern region of Brazil. Brazilian culture is suffused with all sorts of magical rituals – they call them simpatias. Here’s an example:

“Buy a new sharp knife and stick it four times into a banana tree on June 12th at midnight (i.e., Valentine’s day in Brazil, Saint Anthony’s day is on the 13th). Catch the liquid that will drip from the plant’s wound on a crisp, white paper that has been folded in two. The dripping liquid captured on the paper at night will form the first letter of the name of your future partner”

Working with a colleague, she created a large number of variations of real simpatia. Each was modified so as to accentuate one of nine different characteristics:

specificity of time
specificity of place
specificity of material
repetition of procedures
number of procedural steps
number of items used
edibility (presence or absence of edible items)
digestibility (presence or absence of any sort of ingestion)
religious icon (presence or absence of a religious icon).

Then she asked the locals which of these rituals was the most effective. It turned out that varying most of these characteristics had no effect on the perceived efficacy of the rituals.

However, she find that simpatia that insist on a specific time, or that have more individual steps and more repetitions of those steps, or that specify the involvement of a supernatural agent, were thought to be more effective.

But perhaps this is just about simpatias in that cultural context, and not about magical rituals in general?

So Legare tested these same simpatias on US college students, and found pretty similar results. At least, all the trends were the same, although statistically it wasn’t as robust because the US students were less likely to think that any of the rituals would have any effect. College education does pay off after all!

Legare thinks that the the problem with magical rituals is that it’s very hard to know whether or not they work. So, in the absence of evidence, we tend to go for ones that intuitively seem more likely to work. And that means ones with more steps and more repetitions.

After all, if doing something once has some effect, then repeating it has to have a greater effect – and so we prefer rituals that hyper-activate our instinctive understanding of cause and effect.

And appealing to a supernatural being has surely got to help, too!

Legare CH, & Souza AL (2012). Evaluating ritual efficacy: Evidence from the supernatural. Cognition, 124 (1), 1-15 PMID: 22520061

This article by Tom Rees was first published on Epiphenom. It is licensed under Creative Commons.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

May 21, 2012

For less-religious Americans, compassion is a significant factor in prosocial behaviour

Next Post

May 31, 2012 Religion boosts self control

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Causes of religion - evolution Causes of religion - psychological Causes of religion - social Demographics Digest Effects of religion - health Effects of religion - psychological Effects of religion - social Notifications Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I mocked a prophet for his baldness and was mauled by bears for my disrespect. Who are we?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Philistines Youths Children of Israel Boys from Bethel