ArticlePloS one2021
United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06136676 (From the Heart Multi-Centre Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
From the Heart Multi-Centre Study: Comparing the Effects of Spiritual and Secular Meditation on Psychophysiology, Cognition, Mental Health, and Social Functioning in Healthy Adults
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- 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
- Why did doctrinal religions first appear in the Northern Subtropical Zone?Evolutionary human sciences · 2023Review
- A "random group of misfits" or being "part of something bigger"? Exploring experiences of attending a non-religious congregation.International journal of qualitative studies on health and well-being · 2022Article
- Managing the stresses of group-living in the transition to village life.Evolutionary human sciences · 2022Article
- Cochlear SGN neurons elevate pain thresholds in response to music.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Assessing Vocal Chanting as an Online Psychosocial Intervention.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Affect, Belief, and the Arts.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Religious rituals are associated with health benefits, potentially produced via social bonding. It is unknown whether secular rituals similarly increase social bonding. We conducted a field study with individuals who celebrate secular rituals at Sunday Assemblies and compared them with participants attending Christian rituals. We assessed levels of social bonding and affect before and after the rituals. Results showed the increase in social bonding taking place in secular rituals is comparable to religious rituals. We also found that both sets of rituals increased positive affect and decreased negative affect, and that the change in positive affect predicted the change in social bonding observed. Together these results suggest that secular rituals might play a similar role to religious ones in fostering feelings of social connection and boosting positive affect.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.