Do extreme religious rituals positively affect the wellbeing of ritual practitioners?

One of the possible explanations for the existence of extreme religious rituals is their positive effect on the wellbeing of the devotees participating in such rituals. Together with the team of our colleagues, we tried to find out whether this is indeed the case.

2 Sep 2019

In doing that, we have decided to focus on the Thaipusam Kavadi ritual held annually by the local Hindu community in Mauritius. In this ritual, the extremeness stems from the practice of devotees piercing their skin with various objects. Utilizing the longitudinal monitoring of various health-related indicators (both objective and subjective in nature), we were able to show that this ritual really has such a positive effect on the psychological well-being of devotees.

You can find the article here: https://bit.ly/2pCcWTk

26 Jun

LEVYNA conducted field research in Mauritius

As is our good tradition, LEVYNA members conducted a research trip to Mauritius in May 2025.

This year’s Mauritian expedition combined research with rich cultural immersion.
17 Feb

Witchcraft, Envy, and Norm Enforcement in Mauritius

In a new study published in Human Nature, LEVYNA was part of a team lead by A.K. Willard, studying how witchcraft beliefs affect social norms and behaviors. Specifically, researchers investigated whether witchcraft is regarded to be motivated by envy and how this notion influences community interactions. The findings show that, while witchcraft accusations were common, they were mostly directed at persons suspected of acting out of envy.
28 Jan

Socioeconomic variation in motivations for ritual practice – a new study by LEVYNA & UConn

In an ethnographic survey-based study published in the journal Religions, D. Xygalatas and P. Maňo looked at variation in motivations for ritual practice and how it relates to the socioeconomic status of respondents. The findings indicate that whereas people of lower socioeconomic standing address more immediate concerns related to material security and safety in their ritual practices, people at the other end of the socioeconomic spectrum tend to focus on the fulfillment of spiritual, social, or cultural needs.
23 Jan

Experimentally testing the existential insecurity hypothesis

In a new Registered Report published in Collabra, M. Lang and R. Chvaja experimentally tested whether secular individuals would be willing to join religious groups when threatened with cooperative insecurity. The results showed that while this effect was weak in a behavioral test, a self-reported willingness to join was much stronger than anticipated.

All articles

Do extreme religious rituals positively affect the wellbeing of ritual practitioners?

More articles

LEVYNA conducted field research in Mauritius

Witchcraft, Envy, and Norm Enforcement in Mauritius

Socioeconomic variation in motivations for ritual practice – a new study by LEVYNA & UConn

Experimentally testing the existential insecurity hypothesis