MR Chapter 5: Rituals of Love 1

MR Chapter 5: Rituals of Love 1

1. Love Over Death (Scene 7)
2. Alive

A.i.There were disagreements and arguments during their stay on the glacier but nothing was strong enough to break the bond they formed while praying together.

A.ii.Felt solidarity with themselves, God, and the friends who had died and became their sustenance.

1. Miracle in the Andes

B.i.Death has an opposite but the opposite of death isn't living it is love.

1. Love as a motivator
2. King Edward VIII

A.i.King of England in England 1900's

A.i.1.Popular, good looking, powerful.

A.i.2.Sacrificed everything for Wallis Simpson.

A.i.2.a.2x divorcee which at the time was a huge scandle in high society

A.i.3.Love is one of the strongest forces for compelling sacrifices.

1. Nando Parrado

B.i.The love of his father drove him to risk his own life.

B.i.1.Climbed the mountain and endured everything thrown at him in order to return to his family.

B.ii.Love of family, group, or nation are all equally capable of driving someone to self-sacrificing behavior.

1. Fairchild Survivors

C.i.The strong bond they formed help them from splintering into factions driven by self interest.

C.i.1.While the individuals frequently took advantage of the system when they saw an opportunity they never let this get in the way of the greater good of the group.

C.i.2.Love of the group remained stronger than personal fear.

1. Modern Examples

D.i.Running into a burning building to save a loved one, dying for your country, and suicide bombing

D.i.1.All of these are strong examples of how strong emotional attachments to “our people” or the “us” in the us vs them scenario can override our drive for self preservation.

D.i.2.One of the best ways to compel humans to sacrifice themselves for other is to get them to love those they are sacrificing themselves for.

D.i.2.a.Ritual plays a large role in forming this bond of love

1. Ginges, Hansen, & Norenzayan (2009)

E.i.Psychologists from the University of British Columbia

E.ii.Cross cultural study investigating the phenomenon known as “parochial altruism”

E.iii.Parochial Altruism: Self-sacrificing act made on behalf of one's group, an extreme form of which involves aggression or violence against an out-group.

E.iii.1.Suicide bombings, kamikaze pilots, the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, the French resistance during Nazi occupation.

E.iii.1.a.Suicide bombing

E.iii.1.a.i.Many believe religion to be the prime motivator (rewards in the afterlife)

E.iii.1.a.ii.An alternative explanation is “coalitional commitment” which is the powerful emotional attachment among group members

E.iii.1.a.iii.Group members see dying as preferable to letting the group down.

E.iv.Belief and Coalitional commitment were measured via surveys of people's self-reported frequency of both praying (religious indicator) and measures of their support for parochial altruism.

E.v.Surveys were conducted among Palestinian Muslims, Indonesian Muslims, Mexican Catholics, British Protestants, Russian Orthodox, Israeli Jews, and Indian Hindus.

E.v.1.Among every group attendance to worship, not frequency of prayer, predicted support of parochial altruism.

E.v.1.a.Frequency of prayer showed a negative correlation with support of parochial altruism among Indonesian Muslims. (aka the more devoted members of this group were less likely to support parochial altruism)

E.vi.All indicates that it is group rituals that build the emotional attachment more so than religious devotion.

E.vii.Also conducted an experimental manipulation with Jewish settlers in the Gaza or the West Bank.

E.vii.1.Primed by either a synagogue reminder or a prayer reminder.

E.vii.2.Subjects were asked if they thought the 1994 attack on a mosque to be “extremely heroic”

E.vii.2.a.In the synagogue reminder condition 23% agreed while in the prayer condition only 6% agreed.

E.vii.2.b.Suggests that when group ritual behavior is fresh in their minds they tend to be more sympathetic to parochial altruism.

E.viii.Religion is not unique in this ability to bond people. Fraternities/Sororities, military service, and social/political movements all function under the same basic principles.

1. In-Group Love vs Out-Group Hate
2. How do we know that this behavior is motivated by love for the “us” rather than hatred for the “them”?

A.i.Several studies have shown that ritualized group actions can produce greater cooperation, compassion, and altruism.

A.ii.Muscular bonding in dance, chanting, marching.

A.ii.1.Studies have shown that these can enhance liking, cooperation, and compassion

A.ii.2.Can also increase the endurance and pain tolerance

A.ii.3.Wiltermuth and Heath (2009) experimentally manipulated ritual activity and measured prosocial behavior. Participants engaged in synchronous movements, non synchronous movements, or no movements at all. They then played a economic game involving trust and cooperation. The results were as expected with group 1 being highest in cooperation and trust. And group 3 being the lowest.

A.ii.4.There is evidence to show that when someone matches another's physical actions during a conversation their likability rating tends to go up.

A.ii.5.Finger taping in/out of sync study. Those who tapped in sync reported greater liking for one another and greater perceived similarity. In the 2nd stage participants were informed that the other participant was assigned a task and they could choose to be altruistic and help. Those who were in sync in the 1st stage extended greater altruism.

A.ii.6.Increased pain threshold study. Row teams rowing in sync had higher pain thresholds than those rowing independently.

A.iii.Economic game

A.iii.1.Two players. Each gets $10. They can choose to keep as much as they want or give as much as they want to the other player. Any money given is doubled. So if you give $1 you now have $9 and they get $2. The most beneficial to BOTH is to give all $10 and each participant gets $20. But if you do not trust the other individual you could keep all $10 and hope they give anything which would put you ahead.

A.iii.1.a.The amount given was the index of cooperation

A.iii.1.b.Participants were more generous to in-group members than out-group members.

A.iii.1.c.In some cases males were shown to be cooperative to fellow group members even when they don't expect reciprocity.

A.iii.1.d.The study also showed that participants were less cooperative with out-group players than they were with strangers (participants whose group affiliation was unknown)

A.iii.1.e.Study showed that there was no correlation between in-group trust and out-group distrust. Strangers and out-group members were both initially approached with caution. This could quickly lead to hate.

1. Prayer Against the Mountain
2. Rosary

A.i.Most powerful mountain ritual

A.ii.Studies have shown that reciting the rosary can syncronize breathing and heart rhythms

A.iii.Releases endorphins

A.iv.Releases AVP (arginine vasopresin) which decreases self-perceived fatigue and increases positive affect

A.v.Formed a bond that could keep the group together despite personal fear

A.vi.The religious significance can not be ignored

A.vi.1.Research has shown that the pain tolerance of religious individuals is significantly higher than non religious individuals (done by shocking participants while religious ones looked at a religious image and non religious looked at a non religious image.)

A.vi.2.Brain activity showed the religious participants had higher levels of activity in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex which modulates pain among other things.

1. The Urgency of Ritual
2. Miracle in the Andes

A.i.Survivors were characterized as saints which Nando Perrado vehemently rejects.

A.i.1.All were selfish and trying to better their own situation even at the expense of others. He believes the only thing that saved them was their collective concern outweighing their natural instincts.

1. Natural Self-Interest vs Collective Concern

B.i.South African Venda people

B.i.1.Studied by ethnomusicologist John Blacking

B.i.2.Venda people have a ritual of communal dancing and music making.

B.i.3.Blacking observed that during times of plenty these rituals were more common than during times of hardships.

B.i.4.Concluded that the reason they do this is that when the individuals/small groups don't think they need the group is when they need reminders of how important the group is.

B.i.5.Ultimately communal ritual is necessary to revitalize social commitment (such as the rosary)

1. The Evolution of Ritual
2. Primates

A.i.Highly social and possess a wide array of ritualized actions

A.i.1.Baboon “scrotum grasp”

A.i.2.Foraging chimps embrace, kiss, groom, and engage in group pant-hooting when they reunite

A.i.3.When chimps desire reconciliation after a fight the loser uses submissive bows and begging gestures and the winner embraces and kisses the loser.

1. Humans

B.i.Differ from primates in two ways.

B.i.1.Are able to move in coordinated and synchronized ways

B.i.2.Construct ritualized gestures and link them into behavioral sequences.

B.i.2.a.Such as doing something a specific way even when it is not necessary to achieve the goal. (ritualized object washing)

1. Learning to Move Together
2. Synchronicity

A.i.Pendulums in close physical proximity will, over time, become synced but if moved away from each other will lose their synchronicity. (physical system)

A.i.1.Caused by perturbations traveling through the air or wall

A.ii.Women will sync menstrual cycles if they live together. (biological system)

A.ii.1.Caused by pheromones

A.iii.Precedence Effect

A.iii.1.Commonly occurs when one animal vocalized and another matches the first to intensify the signal (if working together) or to mask it (if competing).

A.iii.2.Even if they are working together it is still a competitive action. The group of males are working together against out-group males.

A.iii.3.Fireflies, frogs, crickets, and dolphins all commonly show these activities.

A.iv.These all serve as examples of physical and biological systems naturally falling into sync.

A.v.What is rare or nonexistant outside of humans is intentional cooperative synchrony. (aka intentionally matching movements to bond emotionally.

A.vi.Some higher order primates show they are close to the threshold of intentional cooperative synchrony.

A.vi.1.Gibbon pairs often engage in a call-and-response duet that is thought to serve as a way of strengthening their bond.

A.vi.2.Chimps and Bonobos also engage in group pant-hooting during territorial defense or reuniting after foraging. Which may serve to demonstrate group bond.

A.vi.3.The difference in these actions and humans I that they are only vocal in their synchronicity.

A.vi.4.The only example of group motor synchrony among primates is a single account by Wolfgang Kohler who observed that chimps at his research station began to “march in an orderly fashion in a single file line around and around the post.. a roughly approximate rhythm developed and they tended to keep time with one another”

A.vi.4.a.Believed to be a result of emulating humans.

A.vi.4.b.Kohler encouraged this by stamping his foot rhythmically but once he stopped they would also stop.

1. Stone Tools and the Evolution of Motor Control
2. Early Development

A.i.Toolmaking is likely what provided the selection pressure necessary

A.i.1.In simple terms coordinated motor movements requires one to make their body do what they observe another's body doing.

A.i.2.Toolmaking caused a drastic increase in hominin motor control. This was likely made possible by becoming bipedal and being able to visually guide hand movements as well as bringing natural hand movements into conscious awareness/control.

A.i.3.Stone tool making still took around 600k years to emerge after bipedalism but it is assumed that before stone they were making tools out of perishable materials that simply could not survive in the archeological record.

A.i.4.Chimps are seen to fashion tools out of organic matter

1. Oldowan Tools

B.i.Wild apes do not make tools comparable to the Oldowan tools

B.i.1.Oldowan tools were nothing but stone flakes that show signs of deliberate creation though specific striking motions.

B.ii.Apes in captivity have been taught to make Oldowan-like tools but they do not use the same techniques as hominins.

B.ii.1.This does show that the capabilities are not far from what modern apes are capable of

B.ii.2.While the Oldowan technique involves striking a core stone with a hammer stone to create sharp flakes when apes are taught to make flakes they do so by throwing the core stone against the ground or wall.

B.ii.3.Oldowan tool making likely evolved from using a rock to crack open nuts which wild chimps are known to do.

1. Acheulean tools & the Hand Axe

C.i.While Oldowan tools mark a significant step in our evolution they are not distinct. One could mix in with the gravel in the drive way and never be noticed.

C.ii.900k years after the emergence of Oldowan tools the Acheulean tools emerged.

C.ii.1.Recognizable as primitive modern tools

C.ii.2.Much more emphasis on shape

C.ii.3.Most significant and recognizable tool in the Acheulean tool kit was the hand axe.

C.ii.3.a.Within 1.2 million years of their emergence hand axes changed from a rough tool to a symmetrical work of art that showed great care and skill.

C.ii.4.While a Oldowan flake could be crafted in a couple minutes a hand axe could take months of practice to make and take a large amount of time to craft once the skills were acquired through trial and error which would have lead to many unusable failures.

C.ii.5.This was also believed to be a fairly hazardous activity. Some scientists believe that injuries due to tool making were likely one of the most common “occupational hazards” at the time.

C.ii.6.Brain imagine studies show that the cognitive functions required to make a hand axe are significantly greater than those needed to make an Oldowan flake.

C.ii.7.Another significant aspect is that the hand axe was likely the first tool primitive man viewed as a tool. They kept it with them and treated it with care and a certain degree of reverence. The Oldowan flake on the other hand was something that was created on the spot for a specific purpose than discarded.

1. Hand Axe & Active Teaching

D.i.Due to the Hand Axe's complex nature it is believed that for these skills to develop and advance active teaching must have took place.

D.ii.Active teaching is the idea that the teacher directly interacts with the learner to teach a skill (such as slowly demonstrating or using vocalizations to bring attention to certain critical actions)

D.iii.Active teaching is nonexistent among nonhuman primates who only engage in imitation/emulation (aka they learn through observing)

D.iv.Active teaching is discussed in previous chapters as motionese which human adults use to teach behavioral skills to children. This is basically a ritualized behavior.

D.v.One tribe in New Guinea make stone hand axes. Only adult males craft these tools and the male children are taught to make them through a 10+ year apprenticeship with an adult male which starts around age twelve.

D.vi.A tribe from Khambat, India also engages in a similar apprenticeship training which begins at age 10-12 and lasts for 3-10 years.

D.vii.In both cases oral and gestural instruction takes place to transmit the skills necessary.

1. Gesture Without Purpose

E.i.In Oldowan tool making a simple action makes a useful tool (a sharp cutting edge) and thus the action's purpose is easily understood though passive learning (a novice observes a adult strike one stone with another and then pick up the flake created, inspect it's sharpness, and begin cutting hide)

E.ii.In Acheulean hand axe making there are so many actions that with passive learning would not make sense (repeated inspection, rotating, flaking, etc) thus active learning must have taken place to teach the novice how to tell if their actions were leading to the desired end result.

E.iii.There are three levels of tool use among chimps

E.iii.1.Level 1 is a simple tool use to produce a desired effect (such as chimps poking sticks into ant hills to remove ants to eat)

E.iii.2.Level 2 is when two tools are used in a more complex way (such as placing a nut on a rock and using another rock to smash it) the 1st action taken (placing the nut on the anvil rock) does not in and of itself produce a desired result.

E.iii.3.Level 3 is when a third tool is used (such as placing a wedge under the anvil rock to strengthen it)

E.iii.4.This all shows that chimps have at least a small capacity to chain together actions that do not individually produce a result in order to achieve a goal.

E.iv.One significant difference between hominin tool making and chimp tool making is that the chimps goal (the nut) is within sight throughout the whole process. In hominin tool making, especially once they began making composite tools, could take hours or days to accomplish.

E.v.Homo sapiens were highly skilled tool makers which were capable of making complex adhesives which were used to bind their composite tools together.

E.v.1.These actions had to become highly ritualized due to their complexity as well as their seperation from the end result.