ZYGO Zygon® 0591-2385 1467-9744 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1985.tb00575.x HUMAN CEREMONIAL RITUAL AND THE MODULATION OF AGGRESSION D'Aquili Eugene G. 02 03 1985 20 1 10.1111/zygo.1985.20.issue-1 21 30

Abstract. Human ceremonial ritual is considered as an evolved behavior, one of the principal effects of which is the promotion of intragroup cohesion by decreasing or eliminating intragroup aggression. It is seen as a major determinant of what Victor Turner calls communitas in human social groups of varying extension. The frequent paradoxical effect of ritual's promoting extragroup aggression at the same time that it diminishes intragroup aggression is considered. A neuroevolutionary model of the development and social effects of ritual behavior is presented, being derived from both ethology and recent neurophysiological studies in humans.

 Deikman, A. J.1969. “Experimental Meditation  .” In Altered States of Consciousness, ed. C. T.Tart, 208–9. Garden City , N.Y. : Doubleday. Gellhorn, E.1967. Principles of Autonomic‐Somatic Integration: Physiological Basis and Psychological and Clinical Implications. Minneapolis : Univ. of Minnesota Press. Gellhorn, E., and W. F.Kiely. 1972. “Mystical States of Consciousness: Neurophysiological and Clinical Aspects. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease  154:399–405. Gellhorn, E., and W. F.Kiely. 1973. “Autonomic Nervous System in Psychiatric Disorder.” In Biological Psychiatry  , ed. J.Mendels, 235–62. New York : John Wiley & Sons. Levy‐Agresti, J., and R. W.Sperry. 1968. “Differential Perceptual Capacities in Major and Minor Hemispheres. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science  61:1151. Lex, B.1979. “The Neurobiology of Ritual Trance  .” In The Spectrum of Ritual: A Biogenetic Structural Analysis, by E. G.D'Aquili, Charles D.Laughlin, Jr., JohnMcManus, TomBurns, BarbaraLex, G. RonaldMurphy, S.J., and W. JohnSmith, 117–51. New York : Columbia Univ. Press. Lorenz, K.1966. On Aggression. New York : Bantam Books. Manley, G. H.1960. “Displays of the Blackheaded Gull  .” Ph.D. diss., Oxford Univ. Ornstein, R. E.1972. The Psychology of Consciousness. San Francisco : W. H. Freeman & Co. Rosenblatt, J. S.1965. “Effects of Experience on Sexual Behavior in Male Cats  .” In Sex and Behavior, ed. F. A.Beach, 416–39. New York : John Wiley & Sons. Schein, M. W., and E. B.Hale. 1965. “Stimuli Eliciting Sexual Behavior  .” In Sex and Behavior, ed. F. A.Beach, 440–82. New York : John Wiley & Sons. Tinbergen, N.1951. The Study of Instinct. London : Oxford Univ. Press. Trevarthen, C.1969. “Brain Bisymmetry and the Role of the Corpus Callosum in Behavior and Conscious Experience  .” Paper presented at the International Colloquium on Interhemispheric Relations, 10–13 June, Prague, Czechoslovakia. Turner, V.1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti‐structure. Ithaca , N.Y. : Cornell Univ. Press. Walter, V. J., and W. G.Walter, 1949. “The Central Effects of Rhythmic Sensory Stimulation. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology  1:57–85.