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Why ritual works: A rejection of the by-product hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2007

Candace Storey Alcorta  and
Richard Sosis
Candace Storey Alcorta*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Unit 2176, Storrs, CT 06269-2176 www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/sosis/
Richard Sosis*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Unit 2176, Storrs, CT 06269-2176 www.anth.uconn.edu/faculty/sosis/ Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem 91905, Israel
*
candace.alcorta@uconn.edu
richard.sosis@uconn.edu
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Abstract

We argue that ritual is not a by-product as Boyer & Lienard (B&L) claim, but rather an evolved adaptation for social communication that facilitates non-agonistic social interactions among non-kin. We review the neurophysiological effects of ritual and propose neural structures and networks beyond the cortical-striato-pallidal-thalamic circuit (CSPT) likely to be implicated in ritual. The adaptationist approach to ritual offers a more parsimonious model for understanding these effects as well as the findings B&L present.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , December 2006 , pp. 613 - 614
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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