Published in

Taylor and Francis Group, Communicative and Integrative Biology, 6(4), p. 735-738, 2011

DOI: 10.4161/cib.17609

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Quantifying collective effervescence: Heart-rate dynamics at a fire-walking ritual

Journal article published in 2011 by Dimitris Xygalatas ORCID, Ivana Konvalinka, Joseph Bulbulia, Andreas Roepstorff
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Upload
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Upload
Red circle
Published version: archiving forbidden
Policy details
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Collective rituals are ubiquitous and resilient features of all known human cultures. They are also functionally opaque, costly, and sometimes dangerous. Social scientists have speculated that collective rituals generate benefits in excess of their costs by reinforcing social bonding and group solidarity, yet quantitative evidence for these conjectures is scarce. Our recent study measured the physiological effects of a highly arousing Spanish fire-walking ritual, revealing shared patterns in heart-rate dynamics between participants and related spectators. We briefly describe our results, and consider their implications.