ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2020
Time investments in rituals are associated with social bonding, affect and subjective health: a longitudinal study of Diwali in two Indian communities.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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9 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of predictable behavioral patterns on anxiety dynamics.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Mourning ritual participation, subjective well-being and prosocial behaviour among the Luhya people of Kenya.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- A Shared Intentionality Account of Uniquely Human Social Bonding.Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2025Article
- "We Never Stop Singing": The Dynamics of the Mental and Physical Health of Czech Religious Pastors during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of religion and health · 2024Article
- Dance for the dead: The role of top-down beliefs for social cohesion and anxiety management in naturally occurring collective rituals.PloS one · 2024Article
- Religiosity and gender bias structure social networks.Evolutionary human sciences · 2024Article
- Interdependence, bonding and support are associated with improved mental wellbeing following an outdoor team challenge.Applied psychology. Health and well-being · 2023Article
- Leverage the power of ritual to improve community health worker efficacy and public health outcomes: Lessons from Bihar, India.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2022Review
- Ritual explained: interdisciplinary answers to Tinbergen's four questions.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
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Abstract
Rituals are performed within specific socio-ecological niches, yet the different effects of the same ritual form across different niches (community contexts) remains unclear. Here, using longitudinal measures over a two-week period during Diwali (the Indian festival of light), we investigate the relationship between ritual time allocation and social cohesion in two Indian communities. First, the positive effects of ritual on social bonding, perceived health and affect were highest on the focal day of the festival. Second, we observed anticipatory effects of ritualistic commitment on affect prior to the main day of the festival. Third, social bonding patterns were similar in the two Indian settings, indicating that Diwali fosters social cohesion across diverse social ecologies (cultural niches). However, individually focused emotional benefits appear to dampened in more cosmopolitan environments. Finally, time investments reveal diminishing marginal utilities for ritual activities on social cognition. Ritual time investments were linked to greater affect and family cohesion up to a certain limit. We argue that attention to the diminishing returns of ritual time investments on social cohesion across diverse human ecologies is an important horizon for future cross-cultural investigations. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'.
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