Doctoral Dissertation Research: Exploring Somatic Dimensions of Group Solidarity, Cooperation, and Altruism

博士论文研究：探索群体团结、合作和利他主义的躯体维度

• 批准号: 1323832
• 负责人: Richard Mcelreath
• 金额: $ 3.08万
• 依托单位: University of California-Davis
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-10-01 至 2016-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1323832&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Exploring; Somatic

This project investigates the effects of bodily movement within ritual practice on group identity, solidarity, and cooperation as well as both within group and between group altruism. Coordinating with formal laboratory behavioral studies and cultural evolution modeling efforts at University of California, Davis, and University of British Columbia, it employs a unique fusion of community-based participatory action research (PAR), behavioral experiments with game theory, and cognitive anthropology methods. The project takes place among indigenous groups in the U.S. The communities are in a process of rebuilding community and seeing a strong resurgence in traditional ritual dance practice explicitly motivated by identity and solidarity. This creates a rich context for both socially relevant collaborative research and testing of biocultural evolutionary theories of ritual. Recent findings from the field of human behavioral ecology demonstrate how many fundamental human behaviors are adaptions to biological and economic constraints. While employing the human behavioral ecology model, this research will examine a seemingly complex set of behaviors surrounding ritual which until now have relied on abstract methods in anthropology that employ symbolism as an explanatory variable. By disaggregating ritual into a set of testable premises this research is a potential model for the way human behavioral ecology can address other important cultural phenomena that are typically not testable using controlled experiments.This project investigates several models of ritual function, concentrating on two specific models: 1. Synchrony - physical actions that involve synchronized movement will promote group identification and cooperation and altruism, but only within the group of practitioners. 2. Calming - physical practices which cultivate a state of calm will reduce group identification and promote cooperation and altruism in a broader range of contexts. This research examines ritual practices that exemplify each of these styles for their effects on both parochialism and universal altruism through qualitative interviews, participant observation, and formal experiments. The PAR framework of the project implies that both method and objective of the project will emerge out of collaboration between the local community and the researchers. This research represents a change in approach for cultural anthropology by studying something experimentally that historically was studied using ethnographic methods. The project also contributes to the education of a graduate student in anthropology.

该项目调查了身体运动在仪式实践中的影响对群体身份，团结和合作以及群体内部和群体利他主义之间的影响。它与加利福尼亚大学，戴维斯大学和不列颠哥伦比亚大学的正式实验室行为研究和文化进化建模工作进行协调，它采用了基于社区的参与性行动研究（PAR），游戏理论的行为实验和认知人类学方法的独特融合。该项目发生在美国的土著群体之间，社区正在重建社区，并在传统的仪式舞蹈实践中明确地以身份和团结的态度进行了强烈的复兴。这为与仪式的生物文化进化论测试的社会相关协作研究和测试都创造了丰富的背景。人类行为生态学领域的最新发现表明，人类行为的基本行为是对生物学和经济限制的适应性。 在采用人类行为生态模型的同时，这项研究将研究围绕仪式的一组看似复杂的行为集，该行为迄今依赖于人类学中的抽象方法，这些方法采用象征主义作为解释性变量。 By disaggregating ritual into a set of testable premises this research is a potential model for the way human behavioral ecology can address other important cultural phenomena that are typically not testable using controlled experiments.This project investigates several models of ritual function, concentrating on two specific models: 1. Synchrony - physical actions that involve synchronized movement will promote group identification and cooperation and altruism, but only within the group of practitioners. 2。镇定 - 培养平静状态的身体实践将减少群体认同，并在更广泛的环境中促进合作和利他主义。这项研究研究了仪式实践，这些习惯通过定性访谈，参与者观察和正式实验来说明它们对狭ochialism和普遍利他主义的影响。该项目的PAR框架意味着该项目的方法和目标都将出现在当地社区与研究人员之间的合作中。这项研究代表了文化人类学方法的变化，通过研究了历史上使用人种学方法研究的实验上的事物。该项目还为人类学研究生的教育做出了贡献。