A month-long mass gathering in northern India involved crowding, noise and hard conditions, so you would expect the participants to come out feeling worse. The researchers compared pilgrims against people who did not take part, and asked both groups a month before and a month after. What happened to how they felt?
It went up. Among 416 pilgrims against 127 people who stayed away, the participants reported a relative rise in wellbeing. The proposed explanation is : what is experienced from outside as crush and noise is experienced from inside as belonging and shared meaning. The control group is essential, since without it any seasonal change would have looked like an effect.
A month-long mass gathering involves crowding, noise and hard conditions, so the reasonable expectation is that mood falls and illness rises.
The researchers compared four hundred and sixteen pilgrims against a hundred and twenty-seven people who did not take part, and asked both groups a month before the event and a month after. The control group is essential: without it, any seasonal change would have looked like an effect.
Among the participants there was a relative rise in reported wellbeing. The explanation offered is group identity: what is experienced from outside as crush is experienced from inside as belonging and shared meaning.
The participants rather than being assigned at random, and whoever sets out for a month like that differs from the start in health, in belief and in support. The study also measured , so it does not deny the health risks of a mass gathering.
wat. After a month-long Hindu festival, 416 pilgrims reported higher wellbeing than a control group did.
wat wat
A mass gathering is not only a physical risk; for the participants, belonging and shared meaning may be part of the effect.
How do we know?
A longitudinal study with measured wellbeing and symptoms of illness before and after a month-long Hindu religious festival.
What is still unknown
The participants chose to go on pilgrimage rather than being assigned at random, and the measures rested on self-report at one particular cultural event.
Learn something?
Where to next
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