Science on Religion Research News
Does personality explain the link between belief and health?
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- Published on 30 May 2012
- Written by Jonathan Morgan
- Hits: 1004
Each month new studies emerge about how religious belief affects well-being: belief in a loving, forgiving God is linked to slower progression of HIV; pro-religious people have better heart health. Each new study explores different facets of spirituality and religiosity, and different types of health. But what if this correlation is just a side effect of another, deeper connection? Corinna Loeckenhoff, a psychologist from Cornell, argues that personality may be that deeper factor, and her research backs her up.
Does analytical thinking disprove religion?
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- Published on 25 May 2012
- Written by Connor Wood
- Hits: 1337
Religious believers often speak about their faith “springing from the heart” rather than arising from the cool application of the intellect. New research – which has made quite a splash in the media – supports this model of religious belief by showing that analytical thinking actually works to decrease acceptance of God, the afterlife, and other religious concepts. Does this mean that religious belief is a symptom of an underperforming intellect? Things probably aren’t that simple. A large body of separate research demonstrates that analytical thinking isn’t always the best strategy for all situations.
Seeing a purpose in nature may reduce fear of death
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- Published on 21 May 2012
- Written by Connor Wood
- Hits: 1329
Here’s a question: why is there an ozone layer in Earth’s atmosphere? If you answered “to keep UV rays from harming life,” you're thinking teleologically. Teleology is the idea that there are goals or purposes in everything from the decomposition of soil to the big picture of cosmic destiny. Of course, science generally doesn’t see the world teleologically, because scientists have found that focusing on proximate, mechanical causes is more useful for discovering how things work. But a new study shows that teleological thinking, while not scientific, may serve another function – staving off the fear of death.
IN FOCUS: Few scientists see science in conflict with religion
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- Published on 18 May 2012
- Written by Nicholas C. DiDonato
- Hits: 2198
All too often, religious believers and non-believers alike assume a conflict between religion and science. Popular writers and much of the media seem to enjoy pitting the two against each other, and they paint a picture of the faithful and scientists in a perennial war. The historical problems with this fabricated picture aside, it remains an empirical question whether scientists actually see science as inherently conflicting with religion. Sociologists Elaine Ecklund, Katherine Sorrell (both of Rice University), and Jerry Park (Baylor University) investigated this matter and found that only a minority of scientists see religion and science as inherently in conflict.
Atheism: a personality profile
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- Published on 14 May 2012
- Written by Jonathan Morgan
- Hits: 1326
For half a decade, the cognitive science of religion has sought the evolutionary origins of religious belief. This burgeoning field has some deep and convincing explanations, but it may also stigmatize atheists as aberrations of evolution. Now, psychologists are countering this stigma by tracking the personality traits that naturally facilitate atheism. Their work gives us a personality profile that neutralizes atheism as one of many expected worldviews in any healthy, diverse community.
Does spirituality reduce conspicuous consumption?
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- Published on 11 May 2012
- Written by Connor Wood
- Hits: 1150
When you think of the word “spirituality,” what comes to mind? Luxury yachts, designer footwear, and shopping vacations in Europe, right? Nope – we didn’t think so. For most people, spirituality and religiousness seem to be deeply counterposed to materialistic desires and concerns. The Buddha renounced a life of royal luxury to seek enlightenment, for example, while Jesus urged his followers to give away all they owned. Now, research has found that merely asking people to think about spiritual experiences makes them less materialistic, regardless of their sense of meaning in life, levels of self-control, or even mood.
Muslim prostrations increase alpha waves in the brain
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- Published on 07 May 2012
- Written by Connor Wood
- Hits: 1781
The religious brain is hot stuff right now. Publications as diverse as Science and Newsweek seem to be gaga about how meditation affects the frontal cortex, how praying soothes the amygdala, or how religious belief affects the psyche. But there’s a catch to all this excitement: nearly all the research focuses on either Christian or Buddhist forms of religious practice. Where are the other religions? A team of researchers from Malaysia recently helped to answer this question by studying how Muslim prayer affects alpha waves in the brain, and their results show a profound connection between mind and body.
Review: Beyond the Brain
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- Published on 27 April 2012
- Written by Nathaniel Barrett
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Complex and flexible behavior is a major mark of intelligence. But does complex behavior necessarily require a complex brain? The basic goal of the psychologist Louise Barrett’s engaging new book, Beyond the Brain: How Body and Environment Shape Animal and Human Minds (Princeton University Press, 2011), is to get us to rethink this common assumption. Using a wide array of examples of non-human intelligence, as well as studies of infant cognition and development, Barrett shows how behavioral flexibility, when viewed within a larger system that includes body and environment, can arise without a big, fancy, and concept savvy brain.
Disgusting religion
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- Published on 24 April 2012
- Written by Connor Wood
- Hits: 1903
When you think of the word “religion,” what comes to mind? Candles flickering in darkened chapels, cheerful baptisms, or ancient texts in dead languages? Sure, those images are pretty good. But how about disgusting bodily fluids and revolting lovemaking practices? Some types of Tantra, a variety of Hinduism often associated with the goddess Kali, enjoin practitioners to participate in some of the the most disgusting acts imaginable. And new research suggests that there might be important biological reasons for these behaviors. Specifically, disgusting acts transgress people’s innate biological desire to avoid pathogens, thus forcing a religious confrontation with death. (Warning: this article isn’t for the easily nauseated!)
God spot in the brain? More like God spots
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- Published on 20 April 2012
- Written by Nicholas C. DiDonato
- Hits: 1692
Neurologists have long wondered whether a particular part of the brain can help explain a person’s experience of God. Stanley Koren and Michael Persinger, for example, famously developed the “God helmet,” a device that stimulated what they called "the God spot" and so induced its wearer to feel the presence of God. (Interestingly enough, the device had little effect on the popular atheist writer Richard Dawkins.) However, neuropsychologists Brick Johnstone and Bret Glass (both University of Missouri) challenge the plausibility of the “God spot,” arguing that spirituality involves many areas of the brain.
The new spiritual soldier
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- Published on 18 April 2012
- Written by Jonathan Morgan
- Hits: 1309
When we picture boot camp, we think of yelling, push-ups, long marches, more yelling and… spiritual training? With the U.S. Army’s new Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program, (CSF), spiritual fitness may become just as important as all those push-ups. The army wants motivated, resilient, and morally grounded soldiers, so they’ve paid heed to the research linking spirituality with health. By teaming up with psychologist Kenneth Pargament at Bowling Green State University and the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, they’ve created a program to build strong spirits and strong bodies.
More Articles...
- Religious investors underperform their peers
- Why do we respond the way we do to tragedy?
- Conservatives and liberals react strongly to different situations
- How much are your values worth?
- Religion and sexism
- Religious belief reduces anxiety response
- Do your political views affect how you pray?
- Review: Inside the Neolithic Mind
- The limits of “new atheism”
- Mysticism and mountains
- Mystical unity: A Chinese example
- Americans: religious, scientific claims mostly in harmony
- IN FOCUS: Religion, spirituality, and health – Part II
- IN FOCUS: Religion, spirituality, and health
- Could religion help fend off depression?
- Effects of social factors vary widely in different religions
- Richard Dawkins to debate the Archbishop of Canterbury
- Review: In Gods We Trust
- Protestants, Catholics, and the fundamental attribution error
- Review: How Religion Works
