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The Ritual Effect
Professor Michael Norton studies the ways in which rituals can influence human behavior. In his research, he has found that people establish rituals to enhance their enjoyment of something or to improve their success and don’t like to change the order or way they practice them.
KEY THEMES
He suggests that rituals are not only surprisingly pervasive and highly effective, they are also immensely versatile. Remarkably, rituals seem to work by helping us exactly wherever we need help most. From alleviating performance anxiety to fostering deeper relationships, savoring a meal to coping with grief, his research shows that rituals produce a truly astonishing array of psychological and emotional responses that are specific to—and often specifically helpful for—whatever challenge we face. When experiencing the loss of a loved one, for example, enacting rituals can enhance feelings of control, which reduces grief; in business negotiations, enacting rituals like handshaking can increase feelings of trust, which enables better working relationships. And the list goes on: rituals can increase belonging over family holidays, and commitment between romantic partners. Like a Swiss Army knife, rituals can be used to produce whatever emotional or psychological effect is needed most. He refers to this remarkable versatility as “the ritual effect.”
FUTURE SCOPE
Professor Norton notes how the science of ritual answers such varied questions as: why placing your socks in your drawer sideways, just so, like so many toppled snails, can spark joy; why French children aren’t picky eaters; why brands like Starbucks benefit from encouraging their customers to “Take Comfort in Your Rituals”; why a single handshake can reduce the odds of war; the real reason why open-plan offices don’t work; why traditional “rain” dances and those annoying and seemingly pointless team-building exercises you manager makes you perform really do work, just in sometimes unexpected ways; and why having a greater variety of emotions, a phenomenon he describes as emodiversity, improves our physical and psychological well-being in measurable ways.
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