Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T15:30:55.058Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Uncertainty and rituals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2007

Erik Z. Woody*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada http://www.psychology.uwaterloo.ca/people/faculty/ewoody/index.html
Henry Szechtman*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, MUMC 4N82, Hamilton, Ontario L8 N 3Z5, Canada http://szechtman.com

Abstract

Boyer & Lienard (B&L) elegantly elaborate the links between normal motivational systems and psychopathology and address the evolutionary and cultural context of ritualized behaviors. However, their model omits a key property of the security-motivation (hazard-precaution) system, and this property suggests that ritualized behavior may generate an alternate satiety signal by substituting, in place of uncertainty, a problem that is verifiably solvable.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)