The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform

LANG, Martin and Radek KUNDT. The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform. Religion, Brain & Behavior. Taylor and Francis Ltd., 2023, vol. 2023, e-print before press, p. 1-23. ISSN 2153-599X. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2023.2197977.

Basic information

• Original name: The evolution of human ritual behavior as a cooperative signaling platform
• Authors: LANG, Martin and Radek KUNDT.
• Edition: Religion, Brain & Behavior, Taylor and Francis Ltd. 2023, 2153-599X.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 60304 Religious studies
• Country of publisher: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 2.200 in 2022
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2023.2197977
• UT WoS: 001036428100001
• Keywords in English: African hominins; collective ritual; complex signaling systems; cooperative communication; mutualistic cooperation; neurocognitive mechanisms; pleistocene
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

Collective ritual is virtually omnipresent across past and present human cultures and is thought to play an essential role in facilitating cooperation, yet little is known about its evolution in the hominin lineage. We examine whether collective ritual could have evolved as a complex signaling system facilitating mutualistic cooperation under socio-ecological pressures in the Pleistocene. Specifically, we identify similarity, coalitional, and commitment signals as the building blocks of the contemporary signaling systems in hunter-gatherers and trace the presence of these signals in non-human primates and the hominin archaeological and paleoanthropological record. Next, we establish the underlying cognitive mechanisms facilitating these signals and review the evidence of the earliest presence of these mechanisms as well as evidence for selective pressures on the evolution of cooperative communication. The synthesis of these streams of evidence suggests that ritualized cooperative signals might have first evolved in the Early Pleistocene in the form of similarity signals, whereas coalitional and commitment signals would start appearing in the early and late Middle Pleistocene until, eventually, coalescing into a signaling system. By the arrival of H. sapiens, it is possible that collective ritual as a staged and repetitively performed signaling act constituted an important adaptation facilitating collective action.

Links

• GA18-18316S, research and development project: Name: Evoluce rituálního chování jako komunikační technologie

Investor: Czech Science Foundation