[Have you ever found that people would only pursue a little "sense of rituals" on birthdays, anniversaries or major traditional festivals, such as having a reunion dinner on New Years Eve or eating Zongzi on the Dragon Boat Festival, but now, more and more people are beginning to integrate such ritualistic behaviors into their daily lives?

For example, whether busy or not, every meal should be cooked carefully, set up and decorated elaborately; every cup of tea is particularly prepared from the selection of tea sets, tea-brewing, to tea-tasting; even if living alone, a bunch of flowers is indispensable every week ……]

Based on years of in-depth research, SUN Yixia, ZJU 100-Young Professor, School of Management Zhejiang University, and her team have discovered the significance of rituals to life. On February 25, 2021, the article of "Ritualistic Consumption Decreases Loneliness by Increasing Meaning"(click to read the full article), by ZJU 100-Young Prof. SUN Yixia, as a corresponding author, WANG Xuehua, Associate Professor of Asia Europe Business School, and Thomas Kramer, Professor of University of California, Riverside, was published in Journal of Marketing Research, a top journal in marketing in the world. The authors find that the effect of rituals on loneliness is mediated by meaning in life via perceived product meaningfulness.

Screenshot of the article

From "Living" to "Alive"

Nowadays, with the acceleration of the pace of life and the convenience brought by technology, people are constantly simplifying their life steps, however meanwhile, they have also lost the meaning that such steps may bring.

For instance, it is very easy and convenient for people to book a New Years Eve dinner in a restaurant or to give new years greetings through WeChat, which however has reduced the sense of rituals and meaningfulness of the New Year. Especially under the circumstance of global epidemic prevention, people may have to be alone at home more or less, which has caused the original life gradually to be a simple "living".

＂Ritual is such an effective way to turn daily trivialities into meaningfulness,＂SUN said. "For example, you can easily eat an Oreo at will, or you can twist, lick and dunk. You can make a cup of tea at will and gulp it down, or you can also cultivate your body and spirits in brewing, enjoying, smelling and drinking tea, and experience the way of harmony and beauty."

A New Way to Relieve Loneliness Ritual

Based on empirical research, SUN Yixia and her team proposes that creating some sense of rituals for our own lives not only makes our lives better and more meaningful, but also helps us get through the lonely time.

In the course of their studies, they primed loneliness of the subjects based on emotional manipulation such as recalling a lonely occasion happened before, and asked the subjects to complete a series of ritualistic behaviors. By comparing with the controlled group, they found that subjects who experienced loneliness felt less lonely after ritualistic actions and reported more meaning in life. "We want to use empirical research to demonstrate that rituals can increase meaningfulness, especially for the lonely people, so ritual is an effective way to reduce loneliness," SUN expressed the intention of their study.

People constantly feel lonely, since everyone is desperately "running" under this crazy tempo of life with increasing uncertainty.

This research finds a new way for people to reduce loneliness and helps people to enjoy a better life. It also provides academic significance for loneliness research and promotes the development of marketing and psychology at home and abroad, being full of profound significance.