Feeling the kneeling: power of bodily positions

KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ, Eva. Feeling the kneeling: power of bodily positions. In Biological and Cultural Evolution and their Interactions : Rethinking the Darwinian and Durkheimian Legacy in the Context of the Study of Religion, Aarhus, 26-30 June 2012. 2012.

Basic information

• Original name: Feeling the kneeling: power of bodily positions
• Authors: KUNDTOVÁ KLOCOVÁ, Eva (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Biological and Cultural Evolution and their Interactions : Rethinking the Darwinian and Durkheimian Legacy in the Context of the Study of Religion, Aarhus, 26-30 June 2012, 2012.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60300 6.3 Philosophy, Ethics and Religion
• Country of publisher: Denmark
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14210/12:00060765
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords in English: ritual; prostration; dominance; submission; subordinance; testosterone
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

In different religious rituals we may observe involvement of different, sometimes specific, bodily postures. In contemporary cognitive psychology, accentuating the importance of embodiedness and extendedness of cognitive system, those postures could be seen as crucial elements for understanding how the rituals are perceived and processed by their participants. The importance of embodied cognition could be emphasized not only on symbolic level of rituals, but also on physiological level. In current study of ritual, those two levels are usually studied as interconnected. Body posture and body processes influencing emotional reactions are in psychology underlined as early as in work of Charles Darwin and William James. Since then, there is growing evidence supporting the facial feedback hypothesis (at least at its weak version) – the assumption of an emotional facial expression can change the persons emotions. The same or similar process seems to work while assuming specific body posture. Body posture in particular influences subjective experience of emotion. Individuals induced to assume postures characteristic of certain emotions report feelings that correspond to those postures; those who slumped tended to feel sad, and those who sat more forward with clenched fists tended to feel anger. My research is based on those notions. The main field of interest is the body posture used in religious ritual. The usage of certain specific postures may imply specific functions of such postures in ritual behavior and perception of ritual. More generally, I am interested in exploring whether and how bodily positions influence feelings, emotional states and self- perceptions. The first bodily position to be examined is kneeling. This posture is used in many variations in different rituals, but in other contexts it is linked with subordination, humility and submission.

Links

• EE2.3.20.0048, research and development project: Name: Laboratoř pro experimentální výzkum náboženství