Committee Chair

Hood, Ralph

Committee Member

Ross, David; Lippy, Charles; Eskildsen, Stephen; Harman, William

Department

Dept. of Psychology

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

This study proposes to examine observer attitudes. Any ritual action that has the potential for injury or death, will be coined a religious risk ritual (RR). Observers will examine examples of video from the Manasa Hindu tradition in India and the Pentecostal and Holiness Serpent Handling traditions (SHS) of the southern Appalachian Mountain region of the United States. While training had no overall effect, study participants perceived the Manasa religious ritual as being more legitimate than the SHS religious ritual. Participants accepted of existence of a religious risk ritual cross-culturally but were biased against it in the southeastern United States.

Acknowledgments

Keeping this extremely short, there are a couple of wonderful and extraordinary individuals who have made this thesis possible. First and foremost, I would like to thank Ralph W. Hood for giving me this opportunity. He has blessed me with his experience, patience, and meticulousness. I would like to thank Richard Metzger, Stephen Eskildsen and David Ross for believing in me when others would not. I would like to thank Charles Lippy and William Harman for all those office discussions on religious studies when I needed guidance and direction. In addition, I would like to thank Taylor Loy, James Lewicki and Michael Hamrick for their assistance with my data collection and project implementation. I would like to thank my parents Frank and June Silver for supporting my educational efforts and keeping an interest in my academic career aspirations. I would like to my wife Laura Silver for being so kind and understanding when I couldn't spend time with her.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

8-2003

Subject

Serpents--Religious aspects; Ritual; Risk-taking (Psychology)--Religious aspects; Manasā (Hindu deity); Hindu sects; Snake cults (Holiness churches)--Appalachian Region, Southern

Discipline

Comparative Psychology

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

v, 122 leaves

Language

English

Call Number

LB2369.2 .S548 2003

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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