Excitation Transfer and Religious Ritual: Effects of Arousal on
Helping Behaviour

k 2013

Excitation Transfer and Religious Ritual: Effects of Arousal on Helping Behaviour

KUNDT, Radek

Basic information

Original name

Excitation Transfer and Religious Ritual: Effects of Arousal on Helping Behaviour

Name in Czech

Přenos excitace a náboženské rituály: Dopady excitace na sociální chování

Authors

KUNDT, Radek (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

IACSR 2013 Berlin Conference on Social Cognition and Religion, 2013

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Prezentace na konferencích

Field of Study

60300 6.3 Philosophy, Ethics and Religion

Country of publisher

Germany

Confidentiality degree

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

References:

URL

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/13:00070146

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

Keywords in English

excitation transfer; misattribution of arousal; religion; ritual; plain arousal; helping behaviour; video games

Abstract

V originále

Religious rituals have been theorized to help produce social solidarity amongst group members, as well as hostility towards out-groups. Recent empirical research has started to examine specific aspects of collective rituals (e.g. synchronous movement) that might be important in modulating attitudes and behaviour towards the in-groups and the out-groups. Many religious rituals involve highly arousing stimuli and literature suggests that arousal can alter (mainly amplify) various emotions. For example, it has been shown in laboratory settings that at the individual level arousal can produce residual excitement that serves to intensify later emotional states like aggression, sexual attraction or humour appreciation. Recent field studies, concentrating with greater ecological validity on the collective dimension of arousal, show that participants as well as spectators of religious rituals can share arousal to a great extent, and that highly arousing rituals can promote pro-social behaviour. However, it is yet to be established how arousal may influence prosociality and under what conditions arousal may produce pro-social effects. My presentation discusses results of the recent study I conducted in controlled laboratory conditions in Brno, Czech Republic. The key research question addressed was whether (given the right prime) physiological arousal can influence social behaviour. More specifically, whether physiological arousal (given the right conditions for excitation transfer to occur) will result in increased pro-social or anti-social behaviour (given the right prime). My rationale is based on the Excitation transfer theory from previous psychological research which states that, if certain conditions are met, arousal elicited by one stimulus can be mistakenly attributed to another. Here, I experimentally tested using video games as stimulus, whether autonomic arousal can alter (amplify) even more complex states, be they pro-social or anti-social.

Links

EE2.3.20.0048, research and development project

Name: Laboratoř pro experimentální výzkum náboženství

Citovat

KUNDT, Radek. Excitation Transfer and Religious Ritual: Effects of Arousal on Helping Behaviour. In IACSR 2013 Berlin Conference on Social Cognition and Religion. 2013.

@proceedings{1129545,
   author = {Kundt, Radek},
   booktitle = {IACSR 2013 Berlin Conference on Social Cognition and Religion},
   keywords = {excitation transfer; misattribution of arousal; religion; ritual; plain arousal; helping behaviour; video games},
   language = {eng},
   title = {Excitation Transfer and Religious Ritual: Effects of Arousal on Helping Behaviour},
   url = {http://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8/page/1},
   year = {2013}
}

TY  - CONF
ID  - 1129545
AU  - Kundt, Radek
PY  - 2013
TI  - Excitation Transfer and Religious Ritual: Effects of Arousal on Helping Behaviour
KW  - excitation transfer
KW  - misattribution of arousal
KW  - religion
KW  - ritual
KW  - plain arousal
KW  - helping behaviour
KW  - video games
UR  - http://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-1-4020-8265-8/page/1
N2  - Religious rituals have been theorized to help produce social solidarity amongst group members, as well as hostility towards out-groups. Recent empirical research has started to examine specific aspects of collective rituals (e.g. synchronous movement) that might be important in modulating attitudes and behaviour towards the in-groups and the out-groups. Many religious rituals involve highly arousing stimuli and literature suggests that arousal can alter (mainly amplify) various emotions. For example, it has been shown in laboratory settings that at the individual level arousal can produce residual excitement that serves to intensify later emotional states like aggression, sexual attraction or humour appreciation. Recent field studies, concentrating with greater ecological validity on the collective dimension of arousal, show that participants as well as spectators of religious rituals can share arousal to a great extent, and that highly arousing rituals can promote pro-social behaviour. However, it is yet to be established how arousal may influence prosociality and under what conditions arousal may produce pro-social effects. My presentation discusses results of the recent study I conducted in controlled laboratory conditions in Brno, Czech Republic. The key research question addressed was whether (given the right prime) physiological arousal can influence social behaviour. More specifically, whether physiological arousal (given the right conditions for excitation transfer to occur) will result in increased pro-social or anti-social behaviour (given the right prime). My rationale is based on the Excitation transfer theory from previous psychological research which states that, if certain conditions are met, arousal elicited by one stimulus can be mistakenly attributed to another. Here, I experimentally tested using video games as stimulus, whether autonomic arousal can alter (amplify) even more complex states, be they pro-social or anti-social.
ER  -

KUNDT, Radek. Excitation Transfer and Religious Ritual: Effects of Arousal on Helping Behaviour. In \textit{IACSR 2013 Berlin Conference on Social Cognition and Religion}. 2013.

Detailed Information on Publication Record