United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect.

Religious rituals are associated with health benefits, potentially produced via social bonding. It is unknown whether secular rituals similarly increase social bonding. We conducted a field study with individuals who celebrate secular rituals at Sunday Assemblies and compared them with participants...

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Main Authors: Sarah J Charles, Valerie van Mulukom, Jennifer E Brown, Fraser Watts, Robin I M Dunbar, Miguel Farias
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242546&type=printable
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author Sarah J Charles
Valerie van Mulukom
Jennifer E Brown
Fraser Watts
Robin I M Dunbar
Miguel Farias
author_facet Sarah J Charles
Valerie van Mulukom
Jennifer E Brown
Fraser Watts
Robin I M Dunbar
Miguel Farias
author_sort Sarah J Charles
collection DOAJ
description Religious rituals are associated with health benefits, potentially produced via social bonding. It is unknown whether secular rituals similarly increase social bonding. We conducted a field study with individuals who celebrate secular rituals at Sunday Assemblies and compared them with participants attending Christian rituals. We assessed levels of social bonding and affect before and after the rituals. Results showed the increase in social bonding taking place in secular rituals is comparable to religious rituals. We also found that both sets of rituals increased positive affect and decreased negative affect, and that the change in positive affect predicted the change in social bonding observed. Together these results suggest that secular rituals might play a similar role to religious ones in fostering feelings of social connection and boosting positive affect.
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institution OA Journals
issn 1932-6203
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publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-d3bec082ab6e412994b92ba02de712842025-08-20T02:00:35ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01161e024254610.1371/journal.pone.0242546United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect.Sarah J CharlesValerie van MulukomJennifer E BrownFraser WattsRobin I M DunbarMiguel FariasReligious rituals are associated with health benefits, potentially produced via social bonding. It is unknown whether secular rituals similarly increase social bonding. We conducted a field study with individuals who celebrate secular rituals at Sunday Assemblies and compared them with participants attending Christian rituals. We assessed levels of social bonding and affect before and after the rituals. Results showed the increase in social bonding taking place in secular rituals is comparable to religious rituals. We also found that both sets of rituals increased positive affect and decreased negative affect, and that the change in positive affect predicted the change in social bonding observed. Together these results suggest that secular rituals might play a similar role to religious ones in fostering feelings of social connection and boosting positive affect.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242546&type=printable
spellingShingle Sarah J Charles
Valerie van Mulukom
Jennifer E Brown
Fraser Watts
Robin I M Dunbar
Miguel Farias
United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect.
PLoS ONE
title United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect.
title_full United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect.
title_fullStr United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect.
title_full_unstemmed United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect.
title_short United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect.
title_sort united on sunday the effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242546&type=printable
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