Why do religious leaders abstain from some pleasures? In episode 83, Manvir Singh from Harvard University's Department of Human Evolutionary Biology discusses his research into why shaman healers among the a group of people off the coast of Indonesia observe costly prohibitions, such abstinence or food restrictions, especially given that they could exploit their position for self-serving ends instead. His open-access article “Why do religious leaders observe costly prohibitions? Examining taboos on Mentawai shamans” was co-authored with Joseph Henrich and published on June 11, 2020 in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences.
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Websites and other resources
Manvir's website and Twitter
The study's data, code and supplementary material
Manvir interviewed on The Dissenter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijf8cNBgztA
Video documentary of a Mentawai wedding ceremony:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e63F1oTz_YU
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