Does Performing Rituals Build Character?

Does Performing Rituals Build Character? Important Points

How does performing rituals shape our inner self? This thought-provoking question explores whether ritual participation can lead to personal growth, and moral character. Let’s explore!

Experimental evidence suggests that ritual participation enhances self-control.

Key points

  • Popular assumptions about connections between religions and morality typically focus on religious beliefs.
  • Mindless routines seem unlikely candidates for enhancing the virtues.
  • Cross-cultural experimental evidence suggests that ritual participation enhances childrenโ€™s self-control.
performing rituals

The popular assumption that religiosity and morality are connected is widespread. Presumably, it is based on the inference that belief in a morally interested deity, who knows everything about peopleโ€™s thoughts and actions, will spur believers to conduct themselves uprightly.

They might be prompted to do so in light of their expectations about divine rewards or punishments or they may simply be motivated by less mercenary religious devotion. This account of the connection between religions and morality focuses on peopleโ€™s distinctively religious beliefs.

A question arises, however, about possible connections between morality or at least what we would regard as the development of good character and peopleโ€™s distinctively religious actions. In particular, does the performance of rituals foster ethical dispositions?

Read More Here: 5 Ways To Establish New Habits

Mindless Ritual

Even the most devoted religious participants will usually concede that their frequent performances of rituals can from time to time devolve into automatic behavior. Their scripted ritual actions have become so familiar that they can occasionally lose sight of the religious significance that is attached to them.

By contrast with the scripts for more pedestrian pursuits (say, the script for getting a meal at a restaurant), one of the distinctive features of ritualized behaviors is that in such circumstances even the simplest cues (noting an icon) can readily restore the heightened concern and attention to the details of the scripts associated with them.

Still, religious participantsโ€™ frequent ritual performances can sometimes lapse into mindless routine.

Ritual performances, let alone mindless routines, hardly seem likely candidates for instilling virtues or fortifying humansโ€™ moral convictions, especially when, on the face of it, the rituals in question have nothing to do with such matters.

Assuming that measures of changes in morally relevant dispositions are feasible, the question lends itself to empirical investigation.

In his recent book, Inheritance: The Evolutionary Origins of the Modern World, Harvey Whitehouse explores this question. He considers whether learning and carrying out ostensibly pointless rituals will lead to more self-discipline and less impulsivity in participants compared with learning and carrying out goal-directed instrumental skills. Whitehouse, Veronika Rybanska, and their colleagues devised an interesting experiment to test that hypothesis.

An Experiment in Character Building And Performing Rituals?

They recruited about a hundred 7-year-old children in each of the small central European country of Slovakia and the Melanesian island nation of Vanuatu. At the outset of the study, they took measures of each of the childrenโ€™s abilities:

  • to control their bodily movements deliberately by following instructions to carry out particular motions
  • to demonstrate executive function by examining their capacity to move their bodies in ways that were (as specified to them beforehand) systematically contrary to the instructions that they heard (so, for example, they were to touch their toes when told to touch their heads)
  • to delay gratification by resisting the temptation to even touch a treat for a fixed amount of time on the promise that if they were successful, they would receive two treats.

Then the 100 from each country were divided into three groups: a ritual group, an instrumental group, and a control group. Twice per week for 30-45 minutes for the next three months, the ritual and instrumental groups participated in โ€œcircle games.โ€

In the ritual condition, experimenters stressed the importance of rule-following and told the children โ€œit has always been done this way.โ€ In the instrumental condition, the experimenters told the children that the games would enable them to learn about animals.

At the end of the three months, all of the children were retested in the same three capacities. Crucially, Whitehouse, Rybanska, and their colleagues got the same findings with the children from both countries, suggesting that major cultural differences had little or no effect. In both countries, the control group children had progressed the least.

The children in the instrumental condition did a good deal better, but the children in the ritual condition improved most of all. The children who, in effect, did these meaningless rituals repeatedly exhibited the greatest gains in their abilities to control their bodily movements as instructed, defer gratification, and exercise executive function.

These skills alone hardly constitute moral maturity, but all three are integral to character development and human flourishing.

Read More Here: 14 Powerful Rituals to Attract Good Fortune During the Year of the Wood Snake in 2025!

References
Rybanska, V., McKay, R., Jong, J., and Whitehouse, H. (2018). Rituals improve childrenโ€™s ability to delay gratification. Child Development, 89 (2), 349โ€“59.
Whitehouse, H. (2024). Inheritance: The Evolutionary Origins of the Modern World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

So what do you think? Does performing rituals help in character building? Tell us in the comments below!


Written by Robert N. McCauley Ph.D.
Originally appeared on: Psychology Today
ritual participation

— Share —

Published On:

Last updated on:

,

— About the Author —

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Up Next

โ€˜Dry Textingโ€™ Is Overratedโ€”Hereโ€™s How to Make Your Texts Less Painful

Dry Texting is So Last Year Ways to Keep It Interesting

We all know that friendโ€”the one who texts like theyโ€™re being forced to do it. Short, lifeless replies. No effort to keep the conversation going. Talking to them feels like talking to a wall, and suddenly, texting feels more like a chore than a conversation.

Donโ€™t be that friend.

Iโ€™ve been on the receiving end of dry texting, and let me tell youโ€”itโ€™s frustrating. You send a funny meme, and all you get back is โ€œlol.โ€ You ask how their day was, and they hit you with a dry โ€œgood.โ€ No details, no energy, nothing to work with. It makes you wonder why you even texted in the first place.

Texting is supposed to be fun. Itโ€™s supposed to feel like a real conversation, not an awkward back-and-forth that goes nowhere. But the good thing is that this habit is easy to fix. With just a litt

Up Next

You Wonโ€™t Believe How Good Blake Lively Is in These 7 Roles!

of Blake Livelyโ€™s Most Iconic Performances You Canโ€™t Miss!

Blake Lively has delivered some of the best performances in Hollywood, proving time and again that sheโ€™s more than just a fashion icon. Since making her acting debut at age 10 in Sandman (1998), she has built an impressive career. While her role as Serena van der Woodsen in Gossip Girl skyrocketed her to fame, Lively has continuously shown that her success isnโ€™t just about playing a stylish It-girlโ€”itโ€™s about talent, range, and undeniable screen presence.

From heartwarming dramas to intense thrillers, Lively has mastered a variety of genres. Fans first fell in love with her in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but over the years, she has taken on more complex roles, like her latest in It Ends With Us. Whether itโ€™s romance, action, or psychological drama, she brings depth and charisma to every performance.

W

Up Next

Why Everyone on TikTok Is Lying on the Floorโ€”And You Should Too!

The โ€˜Floor Timeโ€™ Trend Is Taking Over TikTokโ€”Hereโ€™s Why You Need to Try It!

I never thought I’d willingly spend time lying on the floor. Itโ€™s never been my go-to spot for relaxationโ€”too hard, too cold, too uncomfortable. But lately, TikTok has been buzzing about floor time, a simple wellness trend thatโ€™s got people ditching their couches in favor of sprawling out on the ground.

The idea is exactly what it sounds like: you lie down on the floor and just be. Videos under the #floortime hashtag have racked up millions of views, with people claiming it helps them feel more grounded and calm.

At first, it might seem strange. Why choose the floor when you have a perfectly good bed? But you might change your mind after reading the benefits the new TikTok trend has to offer.

A Brief History of Flo

Up Next

14 Billie Eilish Song Lyrics That Deserve A Grammy!

Best Billie Eilish Song Lyrics That Deserve A Grammy!

From inspiring to always meaningful, Billie eilish song lyrics quotes spins narratives that fit anyone regardless of who they are, where theyโ€™re from, or what theyโ€™re going through in life.

Despite the massive success and critical acclaim of Billie Eilish’s album, she walked away empty-handed at the Grammys 2025. But if you’re a fan, here are some of the best Billie Eilish lyrics that prove she truly deserved that award.

And while we cherish her 2024 album Hit Me Hard and Soft, and eagerly await the next set of aspiring lyrics from the star, here are some Billie Eilish song lyrics quotes from over the years.

Up Next

Heart Line Personality Test: What It Reveals About Your Inner Personality

Heart Line Personality Test Results To Know Your True Self

Ever wondered how the lines on your palms can reflect your inner personality? This heart line personality test holds the key to revealing your deepest traits and how you navigate relationships and life. 

Palmistry is the practice of predicting the future by analyzing the lines and patterns on a person’s palm.

In this heart line palm test, we’ll explore the fascinating connections between the shape and alignment of your palm lines and your unique personality.

So, whether you’re a peacemaker, an adventurous spirit, or a thinker, your heart line speaks volumes about you. Take a closer look at your hands, and letโ€™s dive into what your heart line reveals about you, are you ready to discover what lies beneath the surface? Letโ€™s go!

Up Next

The Art of Slow Travel: 4 Benefits Of Wandering Mindfully

Amazing Benefits of Slow Travel Trend: Let's Go!

Instead of rushing to check off a list of must-see attractions, try โ€œslow travelโ€ where you can step out with no rigid plans, only the desire to explore at your own pace. 

Sipping coffee at a quiet cafรฉ, chatting with a local vendor at the market, and meandering through winding streets, the slow travel trend is the art of immersing yourself fully in a place, not just passing through it.

Youโ€™re simply absorbing the moment. Where the journey matters just as much as the destination.

So, What Is Slow Travel?

Wondering what is slow travel? It is a sustainable alternative to mass tourism, focusing on deeper

Up Next

2025’s Horror Lineup Will Leave You Sleeping With the Lights On!

Top Most Anticipated Horror Movies of

2024 was a treat for horror fans, with spine-chilling releases like Nosferatu and Longlegs. But 2025 might be the best one yet.

Not only are we getting the final Conjuring film, we also get to see the much awaited Guillermo del Toroโ€™s take on the classic novel Frankenstein. It does not matter if you are into video game adaptations, want to see Cillian Murphy in a terrifying role, or want a vampire story with a twist, the 2025 horror lineup has something for everyone.

And if you are still not convinced, we have Leigh Whannell (creator of Insidious and Saw) returning behind the cameras. To keep you in the loop, weโ€™ve put together a list of the most anticipated horror movies of 2025.