Black and White Magic: Efficacy of In-Group versus Out-Group Rituals

Supernatural beliefs are a cultural universal, but each society has a specific repertoire of such beliefs. Indeed, membership of a group and sharing its beliefs are intertwined. The distinction between helpful white magic typically practiced by in-group members and harmful black magic practiced by out-group members is one aspect of this. These considerations make the cross-cultural study of supernatural belief particularly difficult; hindering assessment of anything like a general level of espousal of supernatural beliefs.We examined how the estimated efficacy of rituals is affected by two factors: 1) whether the ritual performer is an in-group member and 2) whether the ritual is intended to have a helpful or harmful effect. Our subjects were presented with descriptions of three helpful and three harmful rituals and asked to judge their efficacy. The scenarios presented to different subjects were modified only in terms of whether the ritual performer was presented as a member of the same religious group as the subject.The responses were analysed in terms of their relationship to religious identification, self-reported measures of religiosity, and early exposure to religious models. Our hypothesis was that rituals aimed to help and performed by an in-group member would be rated as more effective in comparison with those performed by an out-group member, while we expected opposite results for rituals that aim to harm somebody.The results confirmed our main hypothesis and supported the role of some measures of religiosity and exposure to religious models in the rated efficacy of positive rituals.