GOD IN YOU, Says Science (published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences) *** Jai Maharaj posts
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Saturday, January 2, 2010
God in You - Says Science (published in Proceedings of National
Academy of Sciences)
Now that science is evaluating the issue of Divinity (paramaatma(n)
or Ishwar), and traces it to individuals, will eminent indologists
stop using Gods (plural) as excuse for interfering in notes on Indian
civilization in student textbooks?
S. Kalyanaraman
Web address:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091130151321.htm
Believers' Inferences About God's Beliefs Are Uniquely Egocentric
ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2009) - Religious people tend to use their own
beliefs as a guide in thinking about what God believes, but are less
constrained when reasoning about other people's beliefs, according to
new study published in the Nov. 30 early edition of the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.
Nicholas Epley, professor of behavioral science at the University of
Chicago's Booth School of Business, led the research, which included
a series of survey and neuroimaging studies to examine the extent to
which people's own beliefs guide their predictions about God's
beliefs. The findings of Epley and his co-authors at Australia's
Monash University and UChicago extend existing work in psychology
showing that people are often egocentric when they infer other
people's beliefs.
The PNAS paper reports the results of seven separate studies. The
first four include surveys of Boston rail commuters, UChicago
undergraduate students and a nationally representative database of
online respondents in the United States. In these surveys,
participants reported their own belief about an issue, their
estimated God's belief, along with a variety of others, including
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Major League Baseball's Barry Bonds,
President George W. Bush, and an average American.
Two other studies directly manipulated people's own beliefs and found
that inferences about God's beliefs tracked their own beliefs. Study
participants were asked, for example, to write and deliver a speech
that supported or opposed the death penalty in front of a video
camera. Their beliefs were surveyed both before and after the speech.
The final study involved functional magnetic resonance imaging to
measure the neural activity of test subjects as they reasoned about
their own beliefs versus those of God or another person. The data
demonstrated that reasoning about God's beliefs activated many of the
same regions that become active when people reasoned about their own
beliefs.
The researchers noted that people often set their moral compasses
according to what they presume to be God's standards. "The central
feature of a compass, however, is that it points north no matter what
direction a person is facing," they conclude. "This research suggests
that, unlike an actual compass, inferences about God's beliefs may
instead point people further in whatever direction they are already
facing."
But the research in no way denies the possibility that God's presumed
beliefs also may provide guidance in situations where people are
uncertain of their own beliefs, the co-authors noted.
Funding was provided by the University of Chicago Booth School of
Business, the Templeton Foundation, and the National Science
Foundation.
Story Source:
Adapted from materials provided by University of Chicago, via
EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
- - -
Journal Reference:
1. Nicholas Epley, Benjamin A. Converse, Alexa Delbosc, George
A. Monteleone and John T. Cacioppo. Believers' estimates of God's
beliefs are more egocentric than estimates of other people's beliefs.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nov. 30, 2009
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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