Why ritualized behavior? Precaution Systems and action parsing in developmental, pathological and cultural rituals

Ritualized behavior, intuitively recognizable by its stereotypy, rigidity, repetition, and apparent lack of rational motivation, is found in a variety of life conditions, customs, and everyday practices: in cultural rituals, whether religious or non-religious; in many children's complicated routines; in the pathology of obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD); in normal adults around certain stages of the life-cycle, birthing in particular. Combining evidence from evolutionary anthropology, neuropsychology and neuroimaging, we propose an explanation of ritualized behavior in terms of an evolved Precaution System geared to the detection of and reaction to inferred threats to fitness. This system, distinct from fear-systems geared to respond to manifest danger, includes a repertoire of clues for potential danger as well as a repertoire of species-typical precautions. In OCD pathology, this system does not supply a negative feedback to the appraisal of potential threats, resulting in doubts about the proper performance of precautions, and repetition of action. Also, anxiety levels focus the attention on low-level gestural units of behavior rather than on the goal-related higher-level units normally used in parsing the action-flow. Normally automatized actions are submitted to cognitive control. This "swamps" working memory, an effect of which is a temporary relief from intrusions but also their long-term strengthening. Normal activation of this Precaution System explains intrusions and ritual behaviors in normal adults. Gradual calibration of the system occurs through childhood rituals. Cultural mimicry of this system's normal input makes cultural rituals attention-grabbing and compelling. A number of empirical predictions follow from this synthetic model.     

Anxiety and ritualized speech.

The experiment examines the effects on a number of words that seem irrevelant to semantic communication. The Units of Ritualized Speech (URSs) considered are: 'I mean', 'in fact', 'really', 'sort of', 'well', and 'you know'. Two hypotheses are tested: (i) that URS rate will increase with anxiety; and (ii) that the speaker's preferred URS will increase with anxiety. Subjects were interviewed on topics they had previously rated as anxiety-provoking and non-anxiety-provoking. Hypothesis (i) was supported, but hypothesis (ii) was not. More specifically, the use of 'I mean' and 'well' increases when the speaker is anxious. Explanation for this is sought in the grammatical location of these two units. Sex differences in the use of URSs, correlations between URSs and their relationship to other forms of disfluency are also considered.     

Healing Rituals for Couples Recovering from Adultery

Recovery from the trauma of adultery is a process that is full of points where the couple can get stuck. We describe an experiential model that utilizes healing rituals. We start with a general exploration of the use of rituals in marriage and family therapy. The key elements of effective rituals are described. We describe stuck points in these relationships including: 1) knowing the details, 2) releasing the anger, 3) showing commitment, 4) rebuilding trust, and 5) rebuilding the relationship. Ritualized interventions are described for each of these stuck points.     

The essential role of ritual in the transmission and reinforcement of social norms

Social norms are communally agreed upon, morally significant behavioral standards that are, at least in part, responsible for uniquely human forms of cooperation and social organization. This article summarizes evidence demonstrating that ritual and ritualized behaviors are essential to the transmission and reinforcement of social norms. Ritualized behaviors reliably signal an intentional mental state giving credibility to verbal expressions while emotionally binding people to each other and group-based values. Early ritualized infant-caregiver interactions and the family routines and rituals that emerge from them are primary mechanisms for transmitting social norms vertically from parent to offspring, while adult community rituals are a primary mechanism by which norms are reinforced horizontally within the community.     

LONELINESS,PARASOCIAL INTERACTION,AND LOCAL TELEVISION NEWS VIEWING

A conceptual model was developed predicting parasocial interaction from both a social interaction need due to loneliness and instrumental television news use. Questionnaires were completed by 329 persons. Pearson and partial correlations supported hypotheses linking loneliness with less interpersonal communication and both loneliness and parasocial interaction with more television reliance. Loneliness and parasocial interaction were not correlated. Canonical correlation analysis supported expectations that instrumental news viewing for information was related to more parasocial interaction and perceived news realism; viewing news for exciting entertainment, news affinity, and news viewing levels correlated positively with this pattern. Ritualized news viewing for time consumption was related to more television viewing, but to less news viewing, duration, and affinity. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis identified news affinity, perceived news realism, and information news viewing motives as salient predictors of parasocial interaction with a favorite local television news personality. Implications of results were discussed in light of uses and gratifications research and communication interaction.     

The effects of representations and behavior in experimental games

This research shows that in an experimental game it is the perception of an actual relationship, of an interaction with the other person more than the nature of the game which creates a climate in which cooperative responses can be established. Cooperative sets can be induced through the Representation of the partner: a reactive partner promoting cooperation, and a rigid one promoting competition. In addition it is noted that in order to understand the reactions induced by the partner's behavior, the behavior in itself it not sufficient. Indeed it is interpreted and understood in terms of the initial representation. The analysis of a person's behavior when in relation with another, should be based on a joint study of the existing representations and of the actual behavior observed.     

Animal cognition + optimal choice = behavior: A review of adaptive behavior and learning, 2nd Ed., by J. E. R. Staddon

Staddon discusses a vast array of topics in comparative psychology in this book. His view is that adaptive behavior in most cases is the result of optimal choice acting on an animal's knowledge about the world. Staddon refers to this as a functional teleonomic approach inasmuch as it attempts to understand an animal's behavior in terms of goals. He builds mathematical models based on this idea that are designed to reproduce specific sets of empirical observations, usually qualitatively. A natural consequence of Staddon's approach is that many models are developed, each of which applies to a specific set of observations. An alternative to functional teleonomy is a functional approach that builds on prior principles. In most cases, this approach favors a single‐theory account of behavior. Prior principles can be understood as functional stand‐ins for antecedent material causes, which means that these accounts are closer to mechanistic theories than are goal‐based teleonomic accounts. An ontological perspective, referred to as supervenient realism, is a means of understanding the relationship between functional theories and the material world. According to this perspective, the algorithmic operation of a successful functional theory may be understood to supervene on the material operation of the nervous system.     

How is physiology relevant to behavior analysis?

Physiology is an important biological science; but behavior analysis is not a biological science, and behavior analysts can safely ignore biological processes. However, ignoring products of biological processes might be a serious mistake. The important products include behavior, instinctive drift, behavior potentials, hunger, and many developmental milestones and events. Physiology deals with the sources of such products; behavior analysis can deal with how the products affect behavior, which can be understood without understanding their sources.     

Intervention to improve mother-infant interaction and infant development

Thirty-three infants at risk for developmental delay were videotaped interacting with their mothers. Maternal position during interaction (facing, beside, or behind the infant) was strongly related to the frequency of maternal interactional behavior and to indices of infant communication and cognitive development. Intervention to teach mothers to use the facing position showed that improvement in position was related to increases in both maternal interactional behavior and infant development. Because the mother's position is easily assessed, understood, and changed by a mother, it is potentially useful to early intervention programs, particularly those serving at risk populations.     

On logic,methodology and practice of applied sociology

Applied sociology will be understood in the following discussion as a unique and original form of sociology; i.e., in its logic and practice distinguished from traditional sociology it is understood as an explanatory body of knowledge and an intellectual discourse about intentional/purposeful social action and behavior. The application of sociology proper to such substantive fields as family, art, law and sport, commonly called applied sociology, which reproduce the body of sociological knowledge just a second time, is not part of such understanding. Applied sociology in its original sense has its own logic in which purpose, implementation and the process of social-problem solution are crucial. It will in the end lead to an applied action or implementation theory. It is, to paraphrase Lazarsfeld, the methodology of “sociology in action” (1960).     

Sociobiology and Moral Discourse

In the intellectual lineage of sociobiology (understood as evolutionary social science), this article considers the place of moral discourse in the evolution of emergent systems for mediating behavior. Given that humans share molecular systems, reflex systems, drive systems, emotional systems, and cognitive systems with chimpanzees, why is it that human behavior is so radically different from chimpanzee behavior? The answer is that, unlike chimps, humans possess symbolic systems, empowering them to override chimplike default morality in favor of symbolically mediated moral codes. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the power of religious symbols to influence moral behavior by reprogramming emotional systems.     

Anger as driving factor of moral courage in comparison with guilt and global mood: A multimethod approach

Although moral courage is a highly desirable behavior whose determinants need to be understood, research has largely neglected the emotions involved in moral courage. Does anger about the norm violation or (anticipated) guilt enhance such interventions even if general mood does not? As previous studies have often failed to overcome the limitations of self‐reported emotions and the use of behavior intention measures, we used a multimethod emotion measurement while observing real behavior. By realizing a real theft scenario in the laboratory (N = 68), we found that anger but neither guilt nor general mood predicted intervention behavior. Our findings complement and expand previous studies by showing that people who experience and express anger more strongly are able to overcome the psychological barrier of potential negative (social) consequences in a situation in which a fast and immediate intervention is needed, whereas others stand and watch. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bridging the gap between intentions and behavior: Implementation intentions, action control, and procrastination

In the context of Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior, the antecedents of intentions are better understood than the antecedents of behavior. The current study aimed to improve the understanding of the transition from intentions to behavior. Based on the work of Gollwitzer (1993), Kuhl and Beckmann (1994), and Lay (1986) we proposed a model of mediators (i.e., implementation intentions) and moderators (i.e., action-state orientation and trait procrastination) in the intention-behavior relation. The model was applied to job seeking, and tested using longitudinal survey data of a sample of unemployed individuals in The Netherlands (N = 175). Support was found for the proposed mediating role of implementation intentions in the relation between job search intention and job search behavior. The proposed moderating roles of action-state orientation and trait procrastination were not supported.     

The noradrenergic system and its involvement in aggressive behaviors

Although a multitude of variables are associated with the expression of aggression, it is imperative that accurate neurochemical vulnerabilities be understood. Norepinephrine is one neurochemical that has been linked to aggressive behavior displayed by nonhuman and human animals. The purpose of the present review was to interpret research findings regarding this relationship. The authors evaluated previous research in order to determine whether a reliable connection between norepinephrine and aggressive behavior exists. Moreover, the potential nature of the norepinephrine–aggressive behavior relationship is presented. In general, research has found a positive relationship between levels of norepinephrine and aggressive behavior among nonhuman animals and humans. However, multiple studies reporting contradictory results were also reviewed that suggest a nonlinear relationship. Norepinephrine's relationship with aggressive behavior may best be explained in terms of the stress–response system and the type of aggressive behavior elicited. Limitations of the previous studies and ideas for future research are discussed.     

EVidence for dorsolateral and orbital prefrontal cortical involvement in the expression of aggressive behavior

Numerous studies have implicated the role of the prefrontal cortex in the expression of aggressive behavior. However, the nature of this relationship remains poorly understood. As such, the purpose of this article is to review both the animal and human literature pertaining to prefrontal cortical functioning and aggression in an attempt to help clarify this relationship. Particular attention is paid to differentiating the functions of the dorsolateral and the orbital regions of the prefrontal cortex in the expression of aggression. Evidence was garnered from four different types of studies: 1) those examining aggressive behavior in animals following ablations to the prefrontal cortex; 2) those examining aggressive behavior in humans following surgical and accidental lesions to the prefrontal cortex; 3) those examining prefrontal cortical functioning in individuals with psychiatric disorders characterized by aggression; and 4) those relating prefrontal cortical functioning to human aggressive behavior in laboratory situations. The general conclusion of this article is that the dorsolateral region of the prefrontal cortex is more likely to be involved in the expression of physical aggression whereas the orbital region is more likely to be involved in the expression of what is termed herein “disinhibited-nonaggressive” behavior. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Eat now,exercise later: The relation between consideration of immediate and future consequences and healthy behavior

In light of the current obesity epidemic, individual choices for food and exercise should be understood better. Consideration of the immediate and future consequences of these choices (i.e., time orientation) can be an important predictor of eating and exercising behavior. The objective was to show that behavior-specific time orientation differentially predicts eating and exercising behavior. Two studies were conducted among students (N = 55) and the general public (N = 165). Participants completed two adapted versions (for food and exercise) of the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale (CFC), each consisting of the subscales CFC-future and CFC-immediate. Thereafter they reported their eating and exercising behavior. Study 1 showed that CFC-food, but not CFC-exercise, predicted eating behavior. Similarly, both studies showed that CFC-exercise, but not CFC-food, predicted exercising behavior. Moreover, eating behavior was predicted by CFC-food/immediate, whereas exercising behavior was predicted by CFC-exercise/future. In conclusion, behavior-specific time orientation predicts behavior within a behavioral domain but less well across behavioral domains. Additionally, consideration of immediate and future consequences differentially predict behavior across behavioral domains. In order to predict behavior, time orientation is measured best at a behavior-specific level.     

Once Bitten,Thrice Wise: The Varying Effects of Victimization on Routine Activities and Risk Management

While the relationship between offending and victimization is well established, less is understood about what contributes to the varied effects of victimization on future behavior. Drawing on qualitative interviews from a sample of at-risk men, the study explores recognized and unrecognized effects of victimization on subsequent behavior and management of lifestyle risks both within and across narratives. Findings demonstrate a range of perceived effects on behavior and risk management, with the presence or absence of substantive effects related to whether the event was both severe and directly attributable to involvement in at-risk behavior. Consequences for the victimization–termination hypothesis are discussed.     

Philosophical behaviorism: a review of things that happen because they should: a teleological approach to action, by Rowland Stout.

Mentalistic terms such as belief and desire have been rejected by behavior analysts because they are traditionally held to refer to unobservable events inside the organism. Behavior analysis has consequently been viewed by philosophers to be at best irrelevant to psychology, understood as a science of the mind. In this book, the philosopher Rowland Stout argues cogently that beliefs and desires (like operants such as rats' lever presses) are best understood in terms of an interaction over time between overt behavior and its overt consequences (a viewpoint called teleological behaviorism). This book is important because it identifies the science of the mind with the science of overt behavior and implies that the psychologists best equipped to study mental life are not those who purport to do so but those who focus on the experimental analysis of behavior.     

Refining the Prediction of Effort: Brehm's Distinction between Potential Motivation and Motivation Intensity

It is self‐evident that resource allocation is better understood when a distinction is made between what people are willing to do to achieve a purpose and what they will do to achieve the purpose. Yet, motivation theorists have largely ignored this distinction in attempting to understand effort aspects of motivated behavior. An exception is Brehm, who has distinguished potential motivation from motivation intensity. Potential motivation refers to the upper limit of what people would be willing to do to satisfy a motive. It is proposed to vary with factors traditionally thought to determine motive strength (importance). Motivation intensity refers to effort and is proposed to vary proximally with the difficulty of instrumental behavior, first rising and then falling precipitously. In this article, I discuss Brehm's distinction and elaborate on its significance.     

The everyday lives of in- and outpatients when beginning therapy: The importance of values-consistent behavior

Background/ObjectiveThe manifestation of functional impairment in patients’ daily lives and interference with things they value is poorly understood. If values are compromised in patients, as theory suggests, social contexts (and the lack thereof) are especially important – though this is currently unexplored. We therefore examined whether daily values-consistent behavior was associated with the importance of a value and whether it involved social or non-social activity.MethodUsing Event Sampling Methodology, we examined daily values-consistent behavior in 57 transdiagnostic inpatients and 43 transdiagnostic outpatients at the beginning of treatment. Patients’ values-consistent behavior, its importance, and (social vs non-social) context was sampled six times per day during a one-week intensive longitudinal examination.ResultsAcross both groups, the probability of subsequent values-consistent behavior increased if (1) it was judged as more important by the patient or (2) if it was embedded in a social context. The probability of reporting values-consistent behavior was higher for outpatients than inpatients.ConclusionsClinicians are encouraged to examine the values of their patients more closely and to especially monitor important and/or social values. Incorporating these into clinical work might increase patients’ values-consistent behavior, which can play a role in reducing suffering.