Pain and suffering as part of religious life: The Mauritian Thaipusam kavadi
In a pop-science article published in Dingir, E. Kundtová Klocová discusses the various socio-cultural aspects of the Thaipusam Kavadi ritual as practiced in Mauritius.
Intergroup violence and trustworthiness
Violence is usually associated with dominance as aggressors enforce the obedience of others by threats, pressure, or manipulation. However, Dan and Radek argue that intergroup violence can be perceived positively and associated with prestige during intergroup conflicts because it becomes a valued behavior that brings benefits to the whole ingroup. On this basis, they tested whether credibility enhancing displays (CREDs) increase the trustworthiness of individuals who behaved violently against the enemies of the ingroup.
In an experiment, which utilized vignettes and questionnaire measures, they found that violent CREDs increase the trustworthiness of ingroup individuals. They also found a positive association between trustworthiness and prestige and a negative association between trustworthiness and dominance. Results then suggest that intergroup violence is valued during intergroup conflicts, which makes it potentially transmissible to other ingroup members, further escalating the conflict.
You can find the article here: https://brill.com/view/journals/jocc/20/3-4/article-p262_5.xml
