tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6451967208270832502.post1088673848353221619..comments2024-03-15T04:24:58.509-07:00Comments on Psych Your Mind: Placing Trust in God and NationAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08931064542755278772noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6451967208270832502.post-34461364240807658062012-03-04T09:06:27.499-08:002012-03-04T09:06:27.499-08:00Hi Ben,
I tend to agree with your "long shot...Hi Ben,<br /><br />I tend to agree with your "long shot" theory that, for some individuals, a lack of belief in God serves as a locus of control. I'll look around to see if anyone has done studies. I've always been interested in the differences between atheists/agnostics who aren't sure as to the existence of any supernatural forces and those who are staunchly against the existence of such forces. Let me know if you come across anything. <br /><br />Regarding mortality salience - yes, I think some of this compensatory control research echoes terror management literature. In a way, both are about maintaining sanity and stability in an otherwise terrifying situation.<br /><br />Thank you for your thoughts again.OlgaAntonenkoYounghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972918518069871691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6451967208270832502.post-88799240952243221562012-02-23T21:47:58.391-08:002012-02-23T21:47:58.391-08:00Hi
Thanks for the reply. On your second point, ye...Hi<br /><br />Thanks for the reply. On your second point, yes I agree that this group of people can be a really interesting place to start when investigating external shifts in control. When you have people like Dawkins, Dennett, Harris and the late Hitchens vehemently expounding evolution and arguing against religion, how might they react in response? My take is that in the face of the threat to their external source of control (government in this case) compensatory control theory should predict that they shift the locus of control back from external to internal source? They might perhaps then fall back on their political, social of cultural beliefs. Or - this may sound like a long shot - they may actually increase their rejection of god/religion to compensate for a threat to the government. <br /><br />Another interesting article which could potentially relate to this is the paper by Norenzayan and Hansen (2006) where they found that mortality salience increased beleifs in the supernatural. If death reminders threaten the self, increase in supernatual beliefs serves as the compensatory external source of control. <br /><br />What are your thoughts?Bennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6451967208270832502.post-55870881987047604792012-02-23T09:23:12.111-08:002012-02-23T09:23:12.111-08:00Hi Ben.
Really great question. They didn't d...Hi Ben. <br /><br />Really great question. They didn't do either the control or group analysis that you suggest and it would be really interesting to see those. I do think that the data would still hold if you control for religiosity. I think even people who barely believe in God would probably increase beliefs in the face of uncertainty. Wouldn't it be interesting if this was the group that increased their beliefs the most? Their wording always emphasized either God or a non-human entity. Therefore, areligious people were still likely to endorse the statement. <br /><br />Your broader point may be about atheists specifically and only those atheist who staunchly deny any transcendent force (the lay and academic definitions of atheism sometimes vary). This is a particularly interesting group and, while its possible that such atheists are also privy to the forces at work in the model, it is also possible that they get their sense of control from a whole different set of sources and wouldn't be affected by the primes in the study. <br /><br />What is your intuition here?Olga Antonenko Younghttp://olga-antonenko-young.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6451967208270832502.post-68017717572920063962012-02-23T09:21:03.789-08:002012-02-23T09:21:03.789-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.OlgaAntonenkoYounghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08972918518069871691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6451967208270832502.post-60959512137639410742012-02-23T08:10:15.707-08:002012-02-23T08:10:15.707-08:00Hi
Really nice summary of the article. I had a c...Hi<br /><br />Really nice summary of the article. I had a chance to quick read it recently and found it really fascinating in terms of the interchangable relationship. I cant remember the nitty gritty but did do seperate analysis for religious and non-religious believers or control for religion? I was just wondering how this might play out for the atheists. If there was a threat to the government, what are their alternative sources of security.Bennoreply@blogger.com