Can a pill take away the desire for religion?

[The Vegan Marxist]

Can a pill take away the desire for religion?
By Tomas Rees
February 27, 2012

Well yes it can - in a manner of speaking.

Today's study is one that was actually published in 2010, and has been languishing in my files. I just rediscovered it!

It's one of a trio from Aaron Kay and colleagues, at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. They've published a few studies before on how the need to feel in control of situations can drive a heightened sense of religiosity (e.g. here, here, here and here).

This study took an unusual approach. First they gave their subjects (37 undergraduates) a 'herbal. pill. They told them that they were going to take part in an experiment to learn the effects of this pill on colour perception. Of course, the pill was just a placebo and the experiment had nothing to do with colour perception.

And then they told half their subjects that the pill had an unfortunate side effect - it would cause some "mild arousal or anxiety".



Next they put their subjects through some pen and paper exercises (while they waited for the pill to 'metabolize'). Half the subjects were given a word game that implanted in their mind ideas related to randomness, by featuring words like "chance" and "random". The other half got negativity words - stuff like "poorly" and slimy".

Now, the idea of this is that priming thoughts of randomness should heighten the subjects' religiosity. And so it did.

As you can see in the graphic, if they weren't told that the pill caused anxiety, then priming with thoughts of randomness significantly increased belief in a controlling god.

However, if they were told that the pill would make them feel anxious, then the effect disappeared.

What Kay thinks is happening is that the randomness prime makes his subjects feel anxious, and they restore their sense of well being by affirming a belief in a controlling god, thereby dealing with the stress of randomness.

But the subjects who were told the pill caused anxiety had a rationale explanation for the stress they were feeling (or so they thought). Because they could explain it, they didn't need to turn to belief in a controlling god.

So there you go. A pill can reduce religiousness - so long as it's a pill that you think will cause anxiety (but doesn't really)!

Kay, A., Moscovitch, D., & Laurin, K. (2010). Randomness, Attributions of Arousal, and Belief in God Psychological Science, 21 (2), 216-218 DOI: 10.1177/0956797609357750

http://epiphenom.fieldofscience.com/2012...iphenom%29

[1871]

There you go. Bang goes your belief in Stalin.

[messinjure]

this is probably the dumbest shit i ever heard in my life. no disrespect. to the poster.

[ClichéGuevara]

I hear common sense works better than a pill.

[High Nigga Pie]

I hear that stopping indoctrination, brain washing, and fear works best.

[matt romney]

fascinating scientifically but those looking to use it in the atheist-theist debate will be disappointed. this disproves religion like viagra disproves erections.

[High Nigga Pie]

Good comparison.

[The Vegan Marxist]

(02-29-2012 02:42 AM)Laz Wrote:  fascinating scientifically but those looking to use it in the atheist-theist debate will be disappointed. this disproves religion like viagra disproves erections.

I don't believe the study was even done to "disprove" religion. It was simply there to show that people are prone to abandon religious-esque beliefs (blind faith beliefs) when given a greater understanding of why something occurs. Granted, it's not the best study, and doesn't really contribute much in the scientific understanding of theism, but I found it interesting nonetheless, and decided to present it to all you fine people.

[matt romney]

precisely

[taif dhia]

yes, there is a "pill"... its called spirituality... meditation, yoga, questioning of dogmas, pondering the essence of Life... it devastates the desire for cultish systems of thought, "religious", "political", or otherwise, designed to control your mind not liberate it.... and is the "kryptonite" of all fundamentalists.