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The cultural evolution of war rituals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2018

Luke Glowacki
Luke Glowacki*
Affiliation:
Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, 31015 Toulouse, France; Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802. Glowacki@fas.harvard.eduhttps://scholar.harvard.edu/glowacki/home
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Abstract

The cultural evolutionary processes outlined by Singh illuminate why ritualized behaviors aimed at controlling unseen forces and overcoming fear are common in warfare among many small-scale societies. They also suggest an explanation for the development of ritual specialists for war who are distinct from war leaders.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e74
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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