New Study: Brain Reacts To Religion Like Drugs

[McLovin]

"Although religious experience impacts more than 5.8 billion people worldwide, our understanding of the brain networks involved remains obscure. In a study published today in the journal Social Neuroscience, researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine report that religious and spiritual experiences activate reward circuits in the brain — the same that are associated with feelings of love and drug-induced euphoric states.

Researchers used fMRI to image the brain’s electrical activity while spiritual feelings were evoked in participants inside the scanner. 19 young devout Mormons, 12 males and 7 females, who were all former full-time missionaries, were chosen because of the intensity of their routine religious experience—known as “feeling the spirit.” A key part of being Mormon involves identifying this experience in oneself and teaching this ability to new converts. Followers of the faith make decisions based on these feelings and view them as a way to communicate with God. This made them the ideal choice for a study aimed at uncovering the specific neural circuits involved with religious experience.

To trigger these religious feelings, participants were given four tasks over the course of an hour while their brains were scanned. The exercises were designed to emulate the Mormon religious experience, and included prayer, scripture study, audiovisual presentations of religious music with images of Biblical scenes and other strongly religious content, and quotes from church leaders. To make sure only the images of brain states associated with intense religious experience were captured, participants were intermittently asked to give subjective ratings, with responses to “Are you feeling the spirit?” ranging from “not feeling” to “very strongly feeling.”

The tasks were highly effective, as many participants were actually brought to tears during the session. Detailed first-person assessments showed that feelings of inner peace and physical sensations of warmth were common. Overall, the feelings evoked were described as similar to those experienced during a typical intense worship service.”*
https://www.google.fi/url?sa=t&sour...ggsMAc&usg=AFQjCNFbcflowmxyzx1iDEd3G7bVsPwC_A



Maybe Karl Marx wasn't far off with the opiate thing

 

[ebimomo]

What "spiritual feelings" are they talking about? What even is meant by "religion" because each is different than the last and the effects of practicing religion differs from one religion to the next.

"To make sure only the images of brain states associated with intense religious experience were captured, participants were intermittently asked to give subjective ratings, with responses to “Are you feeling the spirit?” ranging from “not feeling” to “very strongly feeling.”"

Ah, yes because self-reports are so very reliable. Participants wouldn't at all have some sort of response bias. And what about social desirability? Also, is nobody questioning the fact that they've constructed their own scale? How do we know that it's reliable?

"The tasks were highly effective, as many participants were actually brought to tears during the session."
Well that's a lie, I couldn't find any mention of anybody crying in the actual study
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17470919.2016.1257437
The media lying to everybody and their mothers again

Also, off the bat the data is statistically biased, 19 mormons is not very reflective. You can not extrapolate these findings to the real world so can the Independent sit down and take this massive L for actually trying to draw generalisations on the effects of religion as a whole from this small study.

The problem here isn't the study, I'm sure the researchers didn't intend on making these broad generalisations that media outlets are making. Ultimately, you can not conclude that the brain reacts to religion as it does to drugs using this study.

 

[Jujuman]

Karl Marx was off on alot of things but was definitely on the mark with his characterisation of religion

Religion = Wishful thinking

It really is as simple as that.

 

[McLovin]

What "spiritual feelings" are they talking about? What even is meant by "religion" because each is different than the last and the effects of practicing religion differs from one religion to the next.

Pretty sure the experiences on a fundemantal level are the same lol. The act of worship affects the same part of the brain in a muslim as it does with a hindu

"Religious and spiritual experiences share common phenomenological elements across cultures and theistic faith traditions, including a profound sense of elevated mood (euphoria), noetic insight, ineffability, and a sense of integration within oneself and with others"

Ah, yes because self-reports are so very reliable. Participants wouldn't at all have some sort of response bias. And what about social desirability? Also, is nobody questioning the fact that they've constructed their own scale? How do we know that it's reliable?

That has been controlled for if you delve deeper into the study

It is possible that some of the religious and spiritual experience reported was in response to social desirability, wherein participants report greater experiences out of a desire to appear more socially consistent with the aims of the study (Edwards, 1957 Edwards, A. L. (1957). Social desirability and probability of endorsement of items in the interpersonal check list. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 55(3), 394–396. doi:10.1037/h0048497
[CrossRef], [Web of Science ®]
). This was mitigated by a study design in which each subject served as their own control, comparing for each experimental paradigm periods when feelings were less salient to time points when feelings were more salient.

Also it's not uncommon for people to cry when engaging in religous acts that triggers intense bouts of spirituality



But the study is not all bad, Frequent spiritual or religious experience has also been associated with enhanced quality of life and positive psychosocial outcomes

 

[ebimomo]

Pretty sure the experiences on a fundemantal level are the same lol. The act of worship affects the same part of the brain in a muslim as it does with a hindu

"Religious and spiritual experiences share common phenomenological elements across cultures and theistic faith traditions, including a profound sense of elevated mood (euphoria), noetic insight, ineffability, and a sense of integration within oneself and with others"



That has been controlled for if you delve deeper into the study

It is possible that some of the religious and spiritual experience reported was in response to social desirability, wherein participants report greater experiences out of a desire to appear more socially consistent with the aims of the study (Edwards, 1957 Edwards, A. L. (1957). Social desirability and probability of endorsement of items in the interpersonal check list. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 55(3), 394–396. doi:10.1037/h0048497
[CrossRef], [Web of Science ®]
). This was mitigated by a study design in which each subject served as their own control, comparing for each experimental paradigm periods when feelings were less salient to time points when feelings were more salient.

Also it's not uncommon for people to cry when engaging in religous acts that triggers intense bouts of spirituality



But the study is not all bad, Frequent spiritual or religious experience has also been associated with enhanced quality of life and positive psychosocial outcomes

• "Pretty sure the experiences on a fundemantal level are the same lol. The act of worship affects the same part of the brain in a muslim as it does with a hindu"

…For the experiences to be the same the act of worship would have to be the same. You can’t compare an act of worship where one meditates to one who dances or beats themselves, I’m pretty sure in such case different brain regions are active. That quote I have to disagree with, I mean the act of worship is not the same across different cultures and it's quite obvious in my earlier example. For instance, "a sense of integration with others" cannot be applied to Hindus/Buddhists who mediate.

So how did they control social desirability because...I thought that you couldn’t? I mean for starters you wouldn't even know if the participants were indeed showing some sort response bias. All they did was report it and take measures to avoid it but that still doesn't guarantee anything

true that but you still can't use the findings of this very very small study and come to the conclusion that brain reacts to religion like drugs because the study hasn't proved anything on a larger scale for people to be making sweeping generalisations, I guess that was my problem.

 

[Layth]

Muslims who say Bismillah before they eat and non-Muslims who don't, the digestive process is still the same; it's the spiritual aspect of it (which cannot be detected using scientific methods) that makes the difference.

Internet addiction affects brain function similar to the way drugs do; now that doesn't mean they are the same thing does it? Drugs deviate from this categorization in that it also has negative physiological effects. Likewise, worship false idols deviates (from the perspective of a Muslim) in that it has negative spiritual effects.

P.S. this study is highly flawed. I don't need to explain why.

 

[McLovin]

• "Pretty sure the experiences on a fundemantal level are the same lol. The act of worship affects the same part of the brain in a muslim as it does with a hindu"

…For the experiences to be the same the act of worship would have to be the same. You can’t compare an act of worship where one meditates to one who dances or beats themselves, I’m pretty sure in such case different brain regions are active. That quote I have to disagree with, I mean the act of worship is not the same across different cultures and it's quite obvious in my earlier example. For instance, "a sense of integration with others" cannot be applied to Hindus/Buddhists who mediate.

So how did they control social desirability because...I thought that you couldn’t? I mean for starters you wouldn't even know if the participants were indeed showing some sort response bias. All they did was report it and take measures to avoid it but that still doesn't guarantee anything

true that but you still can't use the findings of this very very small study and come to the conclusion that brain reacts to religion like drugs because the study hasn't proved anything on a larger scale for people to be making sweeping generalisations, I guess that was my problem.

I agree we still don't understand the complex effects it has on the brain. More studies should be done on subjects from different faith backgrounds. In this case it was christianity which is an abrahamic religion and is the largest religous branch so I think that was their main motivation.

 

[McLovin]

P.S. this study is highly flawed. I don't need to explain why.

It's because you can't, jew boy :siilaanyolaugh:

 

[dhegdheer]

Is this why ppl burst into tears while praying? I never understood that

 

[McLovin]

Is this why ppl burst into tears while praying? I never understood that

Spirituality is powerful stuff. More powerful than any drug we can recreate