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JustMe
Skeptic Friend
64 Posts |
 Posted - 03/08/2009 : 12:47:29
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This is your brain on religion
Believers record lower levels of anxiety, which can boost performance but also hinder the ability to fix mistakes, study finds
March 5, 2009 at 4:03 AM EDT
A group of Toronto scientists have found God - or at least the effect God has on a believer's brain.
Newly published research by University of Toronto and York University professors points to reduced stress and anxiety among test subjects who consider themselves to be religious, compared with non-believers, when completing a task under pressure. As a result, the believers performed better on cognitive tests.
"[Religious people] were much less anxious and stressed when they made an error," said Michael Inzlicht, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Toronto and a co-author of the study. "I don't think this has to do with fundamentalism, it's something deeper - religion provides meaning in peoples' lives."
But Prof. Inzlicht said that while a low level of anxiety can boost performance, it also functions as a sort of "alarm bell," and too little activity in that part of the brain can hurt the ability to correct mistakes.
"The more they believe, the less brain activity we see in response to their own errors," he said. In some ways, he added, "that's a good thing. But on the other side, we need to know when we're making a mistake. If we don't, we may make the same mistake again."
In their first study, researchers asked subjects to complete a "religious zeal questionnaire," which included questions such as whether they believed their religion was more correct than others', Prof. Inzlicht said. The subjects were then given a test that involved naming the colour of the letters in a word such as "red" or "blue" (for example, the word "red" may appear in blue font).
Researchers monitored brain activity using electrodes. The results showed that subjects with more religious zeal experienced less activity in the anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the brain that is involved in the experience of anxiety and helps modify behaviour. The more religious zeal individuals showed, the better they did on the test.
In a second test, subjects were simply asked to rate their belief in God, rather than answer detailed questions about their conviction. Even less fervent belief in God resulted in lower levels of anxiety than among non-believers.
Prof. Inzlicht said a subsequent study showed a change in brain activity even when all the subjects were religious. In this study, members of one group were asked to write down why their religion was important, whereas those in another group were asked to describe a topic such as their favourite season. Those who had been primed to discuss their religion once again showed less activity in the portion of the brain associated with anxiety.
David Reed, professor emeritus of pastoral theology and a research professor at Wycliffe College, said he isn't surprised by the study's results.
"Religious people, and I'm speaking for Christians but also other faiths as well, have some larger purpose other than themselves," he said. "They have a more longitudinal view of life, in that they take it beyond death."
Pat O'Brien, president of Humanist Canada, could not comment specifically because he had not seen the study, but said he has heard about others that correlate religious belief with wellbeing. Such studies, he added, still don't answer a fundamental question.
"It probably still doesn't answer the question of whether there's a God or not," he said. "[Even] Santa Claus can make you feel good."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090305.wbrains05/BNStory/International/
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JustMe
Skeptic Friend
64 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2009 : 12:55:51 [Permalink]
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| The first thing that struck me when I read this was that nobody seems to have considered whether the religious beliefs and reduced anxiety might flow from the tendancy to be less sensitive to errors and not the reverse. |
| Edited by - JustMe on 03/08/2009 12:57:04 |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2009 : 14:21:48 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by JustMe
The first thing that struck me when I read this was that nobody seems to have considered whether the religious beliefs and reduced anxiety might flow from the tendancy to be less sensitive to errors and not the reverse.
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That's a very good point.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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Zebra
Skeptic Friend
USA
354 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2009 : 16:52:09 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by JustMe
...
"[Religious people] were much less anxious and stressed when they made an error," said Michael Inzlicht, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Toronto and a co-author of the study. "I don't think this has to do with fundamentalism, it's something deeper - religion provides meaning in peoples' lives."
But Prof. Inzlicht said that while a low level of anxiety can boost performance, it also functions as a sort of "alarm bell," and too little activity in that part of the brain can hurt the ability to correct mistakes.
"The more they believe, the less brain activity we see in response to their own errors," he said. In some ways, he added, "that's a good thing. But on the other side, we need to know when we're making a mistake. If we don't, we may make the same mistake again."
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The professor, as quoted (& of course his comments may have been taken out of context), is confusing correlation & causation. He sounds like a believer, or a fan of belief. How could he call himself a scientist yet say:
(1) "religion provides meaning in people's lives" rather than "religion is correlated with reduced anxiety when errors are made". The study was not designed to quantify "meaning in people's lives" or study correlations w/ "meaning".
(2) "that's a good thing" that stronger believers showed less activity "in response to their own errors" - that's a value judgment, and a bass-ackwards one at that, for a scientist (either that, or he's being patronizing). Vigilance for errors, and action toward correction, are appropriate when errors are actually made. (Different if people are being over-vigilant & taking action to correct errors that don't exist - that's pathology.)
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I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone* -Dick Cheney
*some restrictions may apply |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2009 : 19:22:07 [Permalink]
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It seems to me that all that's proven (if anything) by this study is that believers are sloppier thinkers than nonbelievers. A conclusion that many freethinkers had come to long ago.
Another way of putting it is that believers don't care if they're wrong. That, too, seems self-evident.
Or that they do not feel threatened by mere reality.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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the_ignored
SFN Addict
2562 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2009 : 09:03:18 [Permalink]
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One would also wonder if the people examined "funy" religionists or not...they seem to me to be rather uptight...for example the Rapture Ready people. If you've ever been to their forum or seen their quotes on fstdt.net.
All those threads where they moan and complain about this world and express their eagerness to be taken out of here doesn't quite seem to match up with the peaceful, calm religionists the study talks about.
Though I bet the RR people will talk about that study themselves.
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>From: enuffenuff@fastmail.fm
(excerpt follows):
> I'm looking to teach these two bastards a lesson they'll never forget.
> Personal visit by mates of mine. No violence, just a wee little chat.
>
> **** has also committed more crimes than you can count with his
> incitement of hatred against a religion. That law came in about 2007
> much to ****'s ignorance. That is fact and his writing will become well
> know as well as him becoming a publicly known icon of hatred.
>
> Good luck with that fuckwit. And Reynold, fucking run, and don't stop.
> Disappear would be best as it was you who dared to attack me on my
> illness knowing nothing of the cause. You disgust me and you are top of
> the list boy. Again, no violence. Just regular reminders of who's there
> and visits to see you are behaving. Nothing scary in reality. But I'd
> still disappear if I was you.
What brought that on? this. Original posting here.
Another example of this guy's lunacy here. |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2009 : 10:56:51 [Permalink]
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Whoever wrote that up is very bad at their job, painful read.
Apparently being concerned about accuracy is a bad thing, if I read that right. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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perrodetokio
Skeptic Friend
275 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2009 : 11:07:05 [Permalink]
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In some way it kind of makes sense, that if someone believes strongly in religion, say a catholic, it would not surprise me that said person would be less stressed about certain problems.
Which is not in itself necessarily good.
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"Yes I have a belief in a creator/God but do not know that he exists." Bill Scott
"They are still mosquitoes! They did not turn into whales or lizards or anything else. They are still mosquitoes!..." Bill Scott
"We should have millions of missing links or transition fossils showing a fish turning into a philosopher..." Bill Scott |
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This is your brain on religion
