Ritualization reduces anxiety
Martin Lang and Radim Chvaja published a chapter discussing the relationship between ritual and anxiety in The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion.
Rituals and moral norm objectivization
Despite moral norms’ cross-cultural and temporal variation, we often perceive them as independent of time, culture, and subjects. Radim, Jan, Martin, and Radek examined what role religious rituals play in this process of norm objectivization.
The authors elaborate on anthropologist Roy Rappaport, who argued that the performative element of rituals “materializes” these norms. The paper argues that this materiality manifests as norm objectivity in our psychology. The results reported in the new paper provide initial correlational evidence that the more frequently people attend rituals, the more objectively they perceive moral norms, and this effect is associated with rituals' performative aspects. You can find the paper here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/IY8QRSMK8GP2MFMNFAV7/full?target=10.1080/10508619.2022.2121454
