Generally, threat increases the human tendency to help other in-group members. An international team lead by Martin Lang experimentally tested the influence of outgroup and environmental threats on the process of forming cohesive groups in Brazil, Japan, Mauritius, New Zealand, Singapore, and Spain.
Using a novel tool called sociometric badge, the authors measured activity, proximity between individuals, and their movement mimicry in four-person groups during a task aimed at mitigating the respective threat. Lang et al. show both cross-cultural variation in the process of forming cohesive groups as well as the effect of both threats. Women and men reacted to the threats of environmental catastrophes with increased cohesion and activity, but only men reacted to the outgroup threat of terrorism. The results are in accord with previous theories which point out that intergroup conflict is mostly a male domain, and also show how threats influence subconscious behavioral processes which help build cohesive groups.
You can find the article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13684302211016961
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.
