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.

 

Websites and other resources

• • Manvir’s website and Twitter
  • The study’s data, code and supplementary material
  • Manvir interviewed on The Dissenter:

• • Video documentary of a Mentawai wedding ceremony:

Bonus Clips