Prior, not primed: the influence of belief on the social transmission of ritual

Abstract

This research combines ethnographic and experimental research to explore the influence of belief on the transmission fidelity of ritual content. The experiment, a transmission chain study, involved presenting participants with a video and audio recording of a ritual which they were to recreate. Recordings were coded using propositional analysis and a novel, ‘kinetographic analysis’ coding framework was developed for the coding of the action-based content. The data were then analysed using Bayesian models to explore the influence of belief on the fidelity of transmission of content, and other parametric and non-parametric statistical tests to explore the influence of belief on the longevity of transmission of the core ritual content, as well as the influence of cross-modal semiotic consonance on the transmission of two points of content, as a proxy measure to explore the influence of causal opacity on the memorability of ritualised actions. The results of these analyses indicated that self-reported belief, but not primed belief, did have a positive influence on the transmission fidelity of verbal ritual content. Ethnographic research was conducted with a group of Pagans in North-East England to situate and extend the findings of the experimental research. I attended three rituals as part of this research, which demonstrated other mechanisms which work in conjunction with belief to increase the fidelity of transmission of ritual content, including dedicated study, memory aids, and intentional resistance to variation in order to retain an identity as Pagans in a wider imagined community of Pagans.