Elly Power: Santa Fe Institute

Discerning the intentions and character of others is a difficult task. In South India, religious practice is seen as particularly helpful in that process of discernment. There, the ritual acts undertaken are often quite dramatic: devotees walk across hot coals, pierce their skin with hooks and spears, walk barefoot to distant temples, and sacrifice animals to the divine. What is being communicated through these acts? Drawing on reputational and social support network data, I show that greater and costlier ritual participation corresponds to greater recognition not only for being devout, but also for holding a suite of prosocial traits. Perhaps more importantly, greater and costlier ritual participation also increases the likelihood of a supportive tie between individuals. These findings provide clear support for the costly signaling theory of religion. However, I will spend much of the talk complicating these simple relationships. Not everyone performs costly ritual acts, and the reputational benefits that accrue to those who do are not equally distributed. Much of this variation can be explained by the social risks entailed in these acts and the differential ability of villagers to take on those potential costs. To fully understand this signaling system, a broader understanding of cost, a wider range of actors, and a more complete inventory of signals (including not only the dramatic but also the subtle) must all be recognized and taken into account.