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 | | Loneliness Breeds Belief in Supernatural |
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 Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:24 pm |
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| SilverLupin |
| Redneck Debutante |
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| Joined: 28 Nov 2005 |
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| Quote: | Loneliness Breeds Belief in Supernatural
Andrea Thompson
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com
Fri Jan 25, 7:35 AM ET
People who feel lonely are more likely to believe in the supernatural, whether that is God, angels or miracles, a new study finds.
Humans have evolved as social creatures, so loneliness cuts to the quick. Living in groups was critical to the survival and safety of our ancient ancestors, and "complete isolation or ostracism has been tantamount to a death sentence," said University of Chicago researcher Nicholas Epley, who led the study.
While group living isn't critical to survival in the modern world, feeling socially connected is. Feeling isolated and lonely is a very painful emotional state for people, Epley said, and can lead to ill health, both physically and mentally.
"Being socially isolated is just not good for you," he said.
When people feel lonely, they may try to rekindle old friendships, seek out new ones or, as Epley's study suggests, they may create social connections by anthropomorphizing nearby gadgets, such as computers or cars, pets, or by believing in supernatural events or religious figures.
Pets and religion
In their study, detailed in the February issue of the journal Psychological Science, Epley's team tried to induce feelings of loneliness in people to see how it affected how they thought of pets and their belief in religious figures.
In one experiment, college undergraduates were shown movie clips and told to try and empathize with the protagonist as best they could, in order to set them in one of three emotional states.
One group was shown a clip from "Cast Away," the movie in which the main character played by Tom Hanks is deserted on a remote island, in order to induce a feeling of isolation. The second group was shown a clip from the crime thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" to promote a sense of fear. A third, control group was shown a clip from the sports comedy feature film "Major League."
All three groups were then asked to describe a pet they owned or knew well and pick three traits from a list that best described them. The list included anthropomorphic traits that related to social connections (thoughtful, sympathetic) and simple behavioral descriptions (aggressive, energetic, fearful).
Participants from the loneliness group were more likely to describe the pet using the anthropomorphic descriptions than those in the fear or control groups.
All three groups were also asked to rate their belief in ghosts, angels, the devil, miracles, curses, and God, and again, those in the loneliness group reported stronger belief in these supernatural agents.
Future predictions
In another part of their study, Epley and his colleagues asked participants from the University of Chicago to fill out a personality questionnaire and were then told that the answers would be fed to a computer which would generate a future-life prediction for them. Half of the participants were read statements implying they would be lonely later in life, while the other half were told they would be socially connected for the rest of their lives.
"We tried to manipulate their loneliness, to make them feel lonely," Epley said.
The participants were then asked to rate their belief in the same supernatural agents in the other study, and those in the "lonely group" reported stronger belief than those in the "connected group." The results were also compared to ratings the participants gave before they got their life predictions, and those who reported a belief in God before and were made to feel lonely reported a stronger belief after the experiment.
"We found that inducing people to feel lonely made them more religious essentially," Epley told LiveScience, though he notes it won't cause any sudden conversions.
Health benefits
Owning pets and religious beliefs and practices are both known to increase a person's sense of well-being, but why exactly that is isn’t well known, Epley said.
Epley and his colleagues plan to probe the issue further to see if anthropomorphizing pets or believing in anthropomorphized supernatural agents is what is responsible for alleviating feelings of loneliness. If it is, it could provide alternate means for people to feel socially connected when connecting to humans isn't an option.
"There are health benefits that come from being connected to other people, and those same benefits seem to come from connection with pets and with religious agents, too," Epley said. |
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'I'll tell you the ultimate secret of magic. Any cunt could do it.'
- John Constantine, (Alan Moore)
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:00 pm |
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| asmodee |
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| You need only chat with the right bleever to know that is true. It is painfully obvious that many of them are introvert and feel a need to be connected to something bigger because of something lacking in their real-world lives. |
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Yes, I LOVE to talk while I fight! What shall we talk about? Wounds? Scars? Hot, dirty monkey love? |
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:06 pm |
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| Gren |
| God Of Oreos |
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There are a lot of common themes among 'bleevers': distrust of government, often to the point of paranoia, distrust of big business, general cynicism about mankind going to hell in a handbasket, embracement of general 'New Age' themes, and others.
There does seem to be a generally dismal view of the world. |
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There is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty. Miss that, though, and you're pretty much fucked. |
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| Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:15 pm |
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| Skydiver |
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| Location: Look up |
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 You're one of them aren't you? |
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Only skydivers know why birds sing |
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| Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:54 am |
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| asmodee |
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Hey, I have a general dismal view of the world and don't trust the government. Of course, "New Age" translates automatically in my head to "Load of Crap", so I think I'm still safe. If I do start bleevin in somethin, you guys'll stake me, right? I'd do it for you.
Man, that stakin part just reminded me that there are people who think they are werewolves and people who think they are vampires running around warring with each other because of a centuries-old war in some work of fiction. It's like their entire lives are one big game of D&D and sometimes people really get hurt. Only stupid people, but still. Ah, I guess I don't see a problem there. Never mind. |
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Yes, I LOVE to talk while I fight! What shall we talk about? Wounds? Scars? Hot, dirty monkey love? |
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| Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 10:44 am |
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| Gren |
| God Of Oreos |
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| Location: http://www.skeptomaniac.com |
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lol@Sky
"...there are people who think they are werewolves and people who think they are vampires running around warring with each other because of a centuries-old war in some work of fiction. It's like their entire lives are one big game of D&D and sometimes people really get hurt. Only stupid people, but still."
God bless natural selection. |
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_________________
There is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty. Miss that, though, and you're pretty much fucked. |
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| | Re: Loneliness Breeds Belief in Supernatural |
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| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:26 pm |
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| Abdul Alhazred |
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| Location: Chicago |
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| A corollary would be that most people are lonely. |
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The lack of a rational explanation is not evidence for an irrational explanation. |
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| Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 10:45 pm |
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| Gren |
| God Of Oreos |
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| Joined: 14 Oct 2005 |
Posts: 7841
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| Location: http://www.skeptomaniac.com |
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That loneliness is a part of the human condition.
The most of men lead lives of quiet desperation....... -HDT
And here I'm halfway through a book on loneliness, among other things:
One Hundred Years Of Solitude |
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_________________
There is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty. Miss that, though, and you're pretty much fucked. |
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