Pain makes people more charitable
CACR's Ron Fischer is contributing to international research which seeks to understand why extreme religious rituals have persisted throughout human history and into modern times.
A study involving Victoria University researchers supports the longstanding theory that taking part in extreme, painful rituals increases prosocial behaviours and attitudes including making people more charitable.
Last year Victoria University social scientists Joseph Bulbulia, Ron Fischer and Paul Reddish and two European colleagues went to Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, and compared two rituals during the annual Hindu festival of Thaipusam.