ritualization
n. the process by which a normal behavioral action becomes a communication signal representing the behavior or its physiological consequence. For example, among nonhuman animals, threat displays may be the ritualization of the conflict between attack and escape, incorporating aspects of both, or a ritualization solely of impending attack, as when dogs pull back their lips in a snarl in response to a threat. This lip-pulling began as a way for dogs to avoid biting themselves in an attack, but as other animals recognized this behavior as a precursor to biting, it became ritualized into a warning communication. Animals learn that ritualized behavior can be an effective form of avoiding a fight.