Journey 3 · Grief
Rituals and Grief: What Three Experiments Found
In three experiments, people who recalled a ritual after a death or breakup, or did one after losing a lab lottery, reported less grief, partly via regained control.
Norton and Gino ran three experiments. Online, people who wrote about a past death or breakup and a ritual they did afterward reported somewhat less grief than those who wrote about the loss alone. In a lab, people who lost a $200 lottery draw, then did a short ritual (draw their feelings, sprinkle salt, tear it up, count to ten), reported less grief than those who didn’t. A regained sense of control explained part of it.
In one of the lottery studies, the effect held whether or not people believed rituals work. Still, this is one team’s work, with grief measured right after each task, so hold it lightly. A ritual may ease grief; it doesn’t end it.
Journey 3, Grief, keeps its rituals of remembering small: a name traced, a stone set down beside it, and rituals of your own. Each one gives the loss a deliberate act you can do. What small ritual might mark your loss?
The research
Growing evidence Real research that's still building — results are promising and still being tested.
- Norton, M. I., & Gino, F. (2014). Rituals alleviate grieving for loved ones, lovers, and lotteries. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(1), 266–272.
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