Musical-Poetic Symbols of Hymns in the Formation of Behavioral Culture

Abstract

The present article discloses the mechanisms of impact of musical-poetical symbols lying at
the basis of ceremonial chants (hymns) on human consciousness and of emotions on the formation
in society of behavioral culture based on definite moral and value-related reference points.
Human behavior is determined by a system of value-related reference points of personality,
a summation of acquired knowledge and mastered strategies of making decisions. In their
unity these present themselves as individual for a concrete personality, albeit, simultaneously
determining their inherent diversity. However, the necessity of constant interaction within
a concrete social milieu creates the universality of behavioral culture, the human being’s
subordination to the system of formalized and non-formalized rules of behavior requiring
their acceptance and following them under threat of ostracism. The mechanism of formation
of behavioral culture includes in itself various means which affect people’s consciousness and
their emotional spheres, and provide for appearance of such value-related reference points
and strategies of making decisions which make it possible to socialize it most fully, thereby
providing for an effective interaction between people. One of the most historically dated tools
for the formation of behavioral culture is the musical-poetical symbol. Examination of the
musical-poetical symbol as a tool for formation of behavioral culture requires its juxtaposition
with such figurative means as conception and type, metaphor and myth, the realistic image and
the naturalistic copy.

Keywords: musical-poetical symbol, hymn, behavioral culture, social behavior, moral reference
points, social values, normative system, cognitive scheme.