Thread by @mnvrsngh

Preprint w/ @JoHenrich & @harvardmed’s Ted Kaptchuk! People focus on big gods of large-scale societies, but what about the small gods of animist traditions? We studied the crocodile spirit Sikaoinan of Mentawai (Indonesia) to address 3 key questions: (1/8)osf.io/preprints/soca…

1. Are small gods punitive? Interviewees nearly unanimously reported that Sikaoinan punishes people who do not share meat w/ fellow clan members. So it’s moralistic, but compared to big gods of large-scale societies, limited in domain (sharing meat) & scope (clan members). (2/8)

Sidenote 1: Unlike big gods, Sikaoinan cannot read intentions. In healing rituals, shamans assure Sikaoinan that the patient meant to share but no one was around. Sikaoinan is also said to attack kids in boarding schools who eat alone & don’t have the opportunity to share. (3/8)

Sidenote 2: We interviewed ppl in 4 dialect groups throughout southern Siberut Island. People use different words for Sikaoinan & describe somewhat different appearances. Yet nearly everyone agrees that it punishes people who don’t share meat. Punitiveness is very stable. (4/8)

2. Do beliefs in small gods motivate people to make costly decisions? (do people "believe”?) Seems like yes: Ppl who suspect that Sika attacked them sacrifice pigs & chickens so shamans heal them. They also lose opportunities to seek treatments like herbs, clinics, etc. (5/8)

3. Does ritual reinforce or produce belief? Seems like yes. In special rituals, shamans (who are prestigious and trusted for their religious expertise) talk to Sikaoinan & remove it from the house. Patients later recover, convincing them & observers that Sikaoinan exists. (6/8)

Best evidence that ritual transmits belief is pop-lvl variation: Beliefs about Sikaoinan that vary the least w/i- & b/w-populations (like WHY it attacks ppl) are represented in ritual, while those beliefs not represented in ritual (like HOW it attacks ppl) vary the most. (7/8)

Our study supports claims that punishing gods are not new in history & rather that the trend in societal evolution has been an expansion in the powers & moralistic domain of gods. They also show how tangled ritual, illness, & punishment are in some societies.

Godspeed! (8/8)