A new study sheds light on the psychology of holiday rituals

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, we are coming to sad conclusions about whether we should avoid precious holiday rituals. Many people have challenged health officials, putting themselves at risk of contracting COVID-19 or spreading the disease to personally maintain their family traditions.

A new paper by two researchers at UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School sheds light on the psychology of rituals – and why health officials may need to do more than just tell people not to gather to to be effective.

That’s because coming together to exchange gifts at Christmas is not just about getting presents; it is a symbol of love. Eating turkey on Thanksgiving Day is not just a shared meal; it’s a thankful way. “We see rituals as more important than regular types of group activity because they reflect the values ​​of the organization,” said Dan Stein, Berkeley Haas doctoral student and lead author of the paper.

“When people change actions that are more ritualistic, it builds stronger moral anger,” says Juliana Schroeder, assistant professor in the Haas Group Management Group and co-author of the paper. Setting a pandemic social pace against the values ​​of love and unity represented by the holidays creates moral conflict for many people. “If messages from officers to social distance are to be successful, they must respond to those strong values ​​of an organization.”

The paper, forthcoming in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, exploring the psychology of rituals through experiments that drive home just as strongly how people feel about traditions and resist even small changes. It was co-authored with Harvard Business School professors Francesca Gino and Michael Norton along with Nicholas Hobson, founder of the consulting firm The Behaviorist.

In one experiment, the researchers asked Berkeley undergraduate students to rate the level of 15 vacations according to how ritual they were. They then asked to measure on a scale of 1 to 7 how angry and upset they would be if the U.S. government “moved the holidays for a week forward,” and also how immoral and it would be inappropriate to change the date.

The more ceremonial the holiday, the higher it scored on both scales, indicating stronger “moral harassment” about changing it. Christmas and New Year earned over 5 on all scales, and Columbus Day scored as 2 on both.

In other experiments, they found that ritual change causes moral harassment even if one has a good reason for doing so. When asked by participants – all U.S. citizens – how they would feel if they saw another citizen seated instead of standing for the Riot Pledge, participants reported upset even when they were told the person was seated to show intimacy with Americans with disabilities. .

Participants expressed even more uproar, however, when they were told that the person was sitting to complain about U.S. values ​​- indicating that the reason for the change was important – and they were upset. also if they were told that the person had forgotten to stand. Their humiliation only stopped when they were told that the person had been hurt and was unable to stand physically.

They even discovered changes that could make a ritual safer. In another experiment, the researchers asked Jewish participants how they would feel if a circulation ceremony – a very ceremonial event that took place in the same way for thousands of years – done in a hospital rather than at a temple.

Over 80% of respondents agreed that a hospital reception would be safer, but nevertheless expressed more anger at the proposal to move the circulatory service to a hospital rather than keeping it as a. the same, even if it were a danger.

People don’t want to have to put one sacred value against another. While medical safety represents the sacred value of life in Judaism, the circulation stands for literal harmony of blood with God. That creates an uncomfortable conflict in people’s minds. “

Dan Stein, S.tudy L.ead A.uthor and Doctoral Student, Berkeley Haas Business School, University of California

In fact, the researchers found that it was the study participants who were most in favor of U.S. values ​​that expressed their skepticism about changing holiday traditions.

“We insist that moral behavior works in the long run because it can help an organization to protect its sacred rites,” Stein says. those who are committed to keeping the organization alive, but our research suggests that it may not be effective for everyone to try to tell people, ‘By not working on the right- you will save lives. “

The challenge for families trying to be safe through the pandemic is how to change rituals in ways that keep their values ​​intact, even though it is not possible to come together physically.

“This research suggests that, to reduce anger when changing rituals, you should try to change them in ways that allow people to identify group values,” says Schroeder. that people get confused about when the ritual is changed – and that ‘s what needs to be maintained. “