Kneeling to Feel Small: Effects of Submissive Position on Perception and Behaviour
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| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Most religious traditions emphasize strict power distinctions between the human and superhuman/divine and often demand submissive attitude towards the superhuman agents. This attitude can be enforced not only directly in teachings and theology of the given religious tradition, but also by ritual practices using congruent embodied states of submission, such as kneeling, prostrating or looking up to the representation of deity. I argue that those practices in religious rituals are not mere expressions of subordination, but that they establish and modulate the submissive attitude and behaviour towards the superhuman agents and can enforce inner hierarchical structure of a religious group. Experimental evidence supports similar assertion for other bodily postures and vertical orientation of perception – there is however no exhaustive research program focusing on submissive positions in religious rituals and their effects on human behaviour and attitudes. The proposed poster presents results from series of experimental studies testing hypotheses directed at the effects of submissive body postures (kneeling). Specifically, research explored how the position of a person (standing or kneeling) influences the perception of one´s powerfulness/powerlessness and further behavioural responses in social settings (dyadic communication). |
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