Thanks to the generous support from the Operational Programme “Research, Development and Education”, we have just launched a new project “Scarring Rituals, Fierce Intergroup Conflict, and Extreme Prosociality” (SACRIFICE). Martin Lang will use this opportunity to study the role that extreme rituals play in intergroup conflict.
Under the supervision of David Václavík (Masaryk Uni) and Ben Purzycki (Aarhus Uni), Martin will study how participation in costly rituals affects the willingness to sacrifice one’s resources during inter-group conflict, both in the lab and in Mauritius.
In a new study published in Human Nature, LEVYNA was part of a team lead by A.K. Willard, studying how witchcraft beliefs affect social norms and behaviors. Specifically, researchers investigated whether witchcraft is regarded to be motivated by envy and how this notion influences community interactions. The findings show that, while witchcraft accusations were common, they were mostly directed at persons suspected of acting out of envy.
In an ethnographic survey-based study published in the journal Religions, D. Xygalatas and P. Maňo looked at variation in motivations for ritual practice and how it relates to the socioeconomic status of respondents. The findings indicate that whereas people of lower socioeconomic standing address more immediate concerns related to material security and safety in their ritual practices, people at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum tend to focus on the fulfillment of spiritual, social, or cultural needs.
