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Uncertainty and rituals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2007

Erik Z. Woody  and
Henry Szechtman
Erik Z. Woody*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canadahttp://www.psychology.uwaterloo.ca/people/faculty/ewoody/index.html
Henry Szechtman*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, MUMC 4N82, Hamilton, Ontario L8 N 3Z5, Canadahttp://szechtman.com
*
ewoody@uwaterloo.ca
szechtma@mcmaster.ca
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Abstract

Boyer & Lienard (B&L) elegantly elaborate the links between normal motivational systems and psychopathology and address the evolutionary and cultural context of ritualized behaviors. However, their model omits a key property of the security-motivation (hazard-precaution) system, and this property suggests that ritualized behavior may generate an alternate satiety signal by substituting, in place of uncertainty, a problem that is verifiably solvable.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , December 2006 , pp. 634 - 635
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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