Science finds cure for Religion
Discussion
For hundreds of years Religion has undermined and often tried to ban Science. With poetic justice like that it almost makes me believe there is a higher being with a cracking sense of humour.
Should save us a fortune in defence spending
A new University of British Columbia study finds that analytic thinking can decrease religious belief, even in devout believers.
The study, published today in the journal Science, finds that thinking analytically increases disbelief among believers and skeptics alike, shedding important new light on the psychology of religious belief.
"Our goal was to explore the fundamental question of why people believe in a God to different degrees," says lead author Will Gervais, a PhD student in UBC's Dept. of Psychology. "A combination of complex factors influence matters of personal spirituality, and these new findings suggest that the cognitive system related to analytic thoughts is one factor that can influence disbelief."
Researchers used problem-solving tasks and subtle experimental priming - including showing participants Rodin's sculpture The Thinker or asking participants to complete questionnaires in hard-to-read fonts - to successfully produce "analytic" thinking. The researchers, who assessed participants' belief levels using a variety of self-reported measures, found that religious belief decreased when participants engaged in analytic tasks, compared to participants who engaged in tasks that did not involve analytic thinking.
The findings, Gervais says, are based on a longstanding human psychology model of two distinct, but related cognitive systems to process information: an "intuitive" system that relies on mental shortcuts to yield fast and efficient responses, and a more "analytic" system that yields more deliberate, reasoned responses.
"Our study builds on previous research that links religious beliefs to 'intuitive' thinking," says study co-author and Associate Prof. Ara Norenzayan, UBC Dept. of Psychology. "Our findings suggest that activating the 'analytic' cognitive system in the brain can undermine the 'intuitive' support for religious belief, at least temporarily."
The study involved more than 650 participants in the U.S. and Canada. Gervais says future studies will explore whether the increase in religious disbelief is temporary or long-lasting, and how the findings apply to non-Western cultures.
Recent figures suggest that the majority of the world's population believes in a God, however atheists and agnostics number in the hundreds of millions, says Norenzayan, a co-director of UBC's Centre for Human Evolution, Cognition and Culture. Religious convictions are shaped by psychological and cultural factors and fluctuate across time and situations, he says.
Should save us a fortune in defence spending
A new University of British Columbia study finds that analytic thinking can decrease religious belief, even in devout believers.
The study, published today in the journal Science, finds that thinking analytically increases disbelief among believers and skeptics alike, shedding important new light on the psychology of religious belief.
"Our goal was to explore the fundamental question of why people believe in a God to different degrees," says lead author Will Gervais, a PhD student in UBC's Dept. of Psychology. "A combination of complex factors influence matters of personal spirituality, and these new findings suggest that the cognitive system related to analytic thoughts is one factor that can influence disbelief."
Researchers used problem-solving tasks and subtle experimental priming - including showing participants Rodin's sculpture The Thinker or asking participants to complete questionnaires in hard-to-read fonts - to successfully produce "analytic" thinking. The researchers, who assessed participants' belief levels using a variety of self-reported measures, found that religious belief decreased when participants engaged in analytic tasks, compared to participants who engaged in tasks that did not involve analytic thinking.
The findings, Gervais says, are based on a longstanding human psychology model of two distinct, but related cognitive systems to process information: an "intuitive" system that relies on mental shortcuts to yield fast and efficient responses, and a more "analytic" system that yields more deliberate, reasoned responses.
"Our study builds on previous research that links religious beliefs to 'intuitive' thinking," says study co-author and Associate Prof. Ara Norenzayan, UBC Dept. of Psychology. "Our findings suggest that activating the 'analytic' cognitive system in the brain can undermine the 'intuitive' support for religious belief, at least temporarily."
The study involved more than 650 participants in the U.S. and Canada. Gervais says future studies will explore whether the increase in religious disbelief is temporary or long-lasting, and how the findings apply to non-Western cultures.
Recent figures suggest that the majority of the world's population believes in a God, however atheists and agnostics number in the hundreds of millions, says Norenzayan, a co-director of UBC's Centre for Human Evolution, Cognition and Culture. Religious convictions are shaped by psychological and cultural factors and fluctuate across time and situations, he says.
Shay HTFC said:
Its a bit of a stupid venture in my opinion.
I'm playing devil's advocate here because I'm atheist, but there are loads of things in our lives that don't make perfect analytical sense, but that bring comfort, joy and whatever else to people. The act of love for starters.
Some people need religion. You will never get rid of it completely because then they'll just turn to the next source of guidance/support/comfort/distraction from above (celebrity/commercialism culture maybe... )
The most surprising thing though is that some people's hate of religion is more vehement than the passion of those who follow religion. Its mad.
I agree with you, but in cold logic, Mankind needs to look at whether religion is +ve or -ve for us. Individually it seems to be a benefit for many, but the problem is religion + group = stupidity.I'm playing devil's advocate here because I'm atheist, but there are loads of things in our lives that don't make perfect analytical sense, but that bring comfort, joy and whatever else to people. The act of love for starters.
Some people need religion. You will never get rid of it completely because then they'll just turn to the next source of guidance/support/comfort/distraction from above (celebrity/commercialism culture maybe... )
The most surprising thing though is that some people's hate of religion is more vehement than the passion of those who follow religion. Its mad.
Edited by Shay HTFC on Tuesday 8th May 14:44
Bedazzled said:
It's not a side issue it's the central tenet of their claims and it's nonsense. It reads like a 4-year old's simplistic mental model of how the human brain works. Other animals have highly developed intuitive cognitive processing so they can make quick decisions and avoid predators etc, and their analytic processing is less developed. Evolution selects caution, and many superstitions have this basis, but when was the last time you saw your pet cat praying?
I think you're missing the point of the article there. The article I linked to is essentially quoting interview answers with the study authors and not the study. When talking to a member of the press they are not going to start going into detail about meta-cognition, and critical thinking techniques, as it's pointless and will be missed by the majority of the readership. Hence they simplify it to a level that most people can understand it.Much as it would be nice to think that when I die that won't be it, as scientific discoveries about the human mind advance the more they marginalise the concepts of religion, parapsychology, etc.
ktcanuck said:
Religion is merely a code of practice to apply to the stupid and untamed so that they behave in a less destructive manner. It was promulgated by thoughtful folks who found that fear of the unknown could make people believe. Clever really.
Really? Are you that it hasn't come back and bitten those 'clever' folks on the arse?Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff