Uncertain Malinowski: The Importance of Preritual Stress Data
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Snodgrass, Most, and Upadhyay present exciting and intriguing research on the complex relationship between religious ritual and anxiety. They suggest, based on their results, that rituals may be “good medicine” for chronically stressed populations. While we concur that ritual behavior can serve as an antianxiety agent in certain situations, we are concerned that the current data do not afford a straightforward interpretation. Whereas the main finding of stress reduction after the Holi and Navratri rituals is compelling, we lack sufficient data to understand what mediated this decrease. In this commentary, we identify four models that can potentially explain the observed stress decrease and suggest supplementary measurements that can distinguish between these competing explanations. |
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