TY - JOUR

T1 - The effects of extreme rituals on moral behavior

T2 - The performers-observers gap hypothesis

AU - Mitkidis, Panagiotis

AU - Ayal, Shahar

AU - Shalvi, Shaul

AU - Heimann, Katrin

AU - Levy, Gabriel

AU - Kyselo, Miriam

AU - Wallot, Sebastian

AU - Ariely, Dan

AU - Roepstorff, Andreas

PY - 2017/4/1

Y1 - 2017/4/1

N2 - Religious rituals are found all over the world. Some cultures engage in extreme religious rituals in which individuals take on forms of bodily harm to demonstrate their devotion. Such rituals entail excessive costs in terms of physical pain and effort, but the equivalent societal benefits remain unclear. The field experiment reported here examined the interplay between extreme rituals and moral behavior. Using a die-roll task to measure honest behavior, we tested whether engaging or observing others engaging in extreme ritual activities affects subsequent moral behavior. Strikingly, the results showed that extreme rituals promote moral behavior among ritual observers, but not among ritual performers. The discussion centres on the moral effects of rituals within the broader social context in which they occur. Extreme religious rituals appear to have a moral cleansing effect on the numerous individuals observing the rituals, which may imply that these rituals evolved to advance and maintain moral societies.

AB - Religious rituals are found all over the world. Some cultures engage in extreme religious rituals in which individuals take on forms of bodily harm to demonstrate their devotion. Such rituals entail excessive costs in terms of physical pain and effort, but the equivalent societal benefits remain unclear. The field experiment reported here examined the interplay between extreme rituals and moral behavior. Using a die-roll task to measure honest behavior, we tested whether engaging or observing others engaging in extreme ritual activities affects subsequent moral behavior. Strikingly, the results showed that extreme rituals promote moral behavior among ritual observers, but not among ritual performers. The discussion centres on the moral effects of rituals within the broader social context in which they occur. Extreme religious rituals appear to have a moral cleansing effect on the numerous individuals observing the rituals, which may imply that these rituals evolved to advance and maintain moral societies.

KW - Psychology

KW - Cleansing

KW - Extreme rituals

KW - Licensing

KW - Moral behavior

KW - Self-sacrifice

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85011664413&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.joep.2016.12.007

DO - 10.1016/j.joep.2016.12.007

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85011664413

VL - 59

SP - 1

EP - 7

JO - Journal of Economic Psychology

JF - Journal of Economic Psychology

SN - 0167-4870

ER -