Religious ritual participation increases sacred values even on non-religious topics.

Evidence

In summary, the more frequently participants took part in religious rituals, the more they considered their preferences to be sacred values. This was true for preferences pertaining to religious topics as well as for those that did not have any religious content. In contrast, disgust sensitivity and—more surprisingly—cognitive need for closure were not related to our sacred values measure. These null results suggest that we should cast a more critical eye on these motivational accounts for sacred values. However, because of the theoretical strength of these accounts, we believe that further research is necessary before they should be discounted. — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 29

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s core research question: this is the empirical test of whether the threat-to-sacralization pathway generalizes beyond religious content — ritual produces sacred values even on gun ownership, not just belief in God. — connects to: Merely reminding people of religious ritual raises how many sacred values they claim. — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 30; Merely reminding Muslims of their religiosity increases how many values they call sacred — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 37; Sacred values can form quickly through ritual and perceived group threat. — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 8 (+9 more)
• QUESTION: The disgust-sensitivity and need-for-closure null findings complicate the usual motivational accounts; worth probing whether these were underpowered or genuinely absent.

Related

• Participation in religious ritual, not broader psychological traits, predicts sacred values. (similarity 0.95)
• Participation in religious ritual creates sacred values, especially under group threat. (similarity 0.94)
• Ritual participation plus perceived threat converts disputed preferences into sacred values. (similarity 0.93)
• Merely reminding people of religious ritual raises how many sacred values they claim. (similarity 0.92)
• Participation in religious ritual and perceived group threat jointly make people sacralize preferences. (similarity 0.91)
• Sacred values can form quickly through ritual and perceived group threat. (similarity 0.91)
• Merely reminding Muslims of their religiosity increases how many values they call sacred (similarity 0.90)
• Perceived out-group threat amplifies ritual-driven sacralization of values. (similarity 0.89)
• External threat drives groups to ritualize preferences into sacred values (similarity 0.87)
• Religiosity predicts sacred values independent of demographics and politics. (similarity 0.84)
• Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran — Religion, group threat and sacred values (similarity 0.82)
• Sacred values bind group identity and give groups advantage through non-rational commitment. (similarity 0.82)
• Religion bundles separable traits whose conflict roles must be disaggregated (similarity 0.82)
• Groups may posture sacred claims that are not deeply held identity commitments (similarity 0.79)
• Purely rational groups collapse more easily than ones bound by sacred values (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Religious ritual converts secular values into sacred ones that harden conflict #corroborates (0.95)
• Ritual participation plus perceived threat converts disputed preferences into sacred values. #corroborates (0.85) — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 58
• Public prayer rituals primarily reinforce group identity rather than mere belief. #expands (0.78)
• Sacred values bind group identity and give groups advantage through non-rational commitment. #expands (0.75) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 264
• Religiosity predicts sacred values independent of demographics and politics. #expands (0.75) — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 26
• External threat drives groups to ritualize preferences into sacred values #qualifies (0.75) — Hammad Sheikh and Jeremy Ginges and Alin Coman and Scott Atran, Religion, group threat and sacred values, 14
• Ritual binds members through shared experience of awe rather than shared belief #qualifies (0.72) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 871