LEVYNA conducted field research in Mauritius
As is our good tradition, LEVYNA members conducted a research trip to Mauritius in May 2025.
This year’s Mauritian expedition combined research with rich cultural immersion.
Emotional contagion in a collective ritual – a study by LEVYNA & colleagues
In a field-study conducted among Hindu-Mauritians published in the American Journal of Human Biology, D. Xygalatas, M. Lang, P. Maňo, J. Krátký and R. Fischer discovered that individuals dynamically attune their affective states to one another in a collective religious ritual, implying that they adjust their emotional states to align with the group.
People in collective gatherings often align their psychophysiological states. But how exactly does emotional contagion unfold in a crowd in real time? Xygalatas et al. observed a Mauritian Hindu religious procession to examine the relationship between interpersonal distance and autonomic arousal in naturalistic settings. They found that participants in proximity with one another in the structured procession effectively synchronized more than when walking together the same route before the ritual. The findings thus highlight the crucial role of cultural practices in shaping collective emotional experiences.
