Reasonable Doubt Extra: Does Religion Make Us Better People?
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0:02 - 0:06Welcome to Reasonable Doubts,
-
0:06 - 0:11your skeptical guide to religion.
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0:11 - 0:27(Music)
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0:27 - 0:31You're listening to Reasonable Doubts,
the radio show and podcast for those who -
0:31 - 0:32won't just take things on faith.
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0:32 - 0:35I'm Jamie Beahan
and for this special episode -
0:35 - 0:39of Reasonable Doubts, we're featuring a
lecture I gave in February -
0:39 - 0:42to the Grand Traverse humanists in
Traverse City, Michigan. -
0:42 - 0:45The lecture was entitled;
“Does religion make us better?", -
0:45 - 0:50a critical review of the religious
pro-sociality hypothesis. -
0:50 - 0:53Longtime listeners will no doubt
recognize many of the studies -
0:53 - 0:55talked about in this lecture.
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0:55 - 1:00A previous RD-extra and our episode “The Skeptics Toolkit to Psychology of Religion”
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1:00 - 1:02discussed these findings.
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1:02 - 1:05But this lecture is a bit different,
mostly in the trivial -
1:05 - 1:09and, I'm sure, disappointing fact that I
am presenting the findings rather than -
1:09 - 1:12our resident doctor professor Luke Galen.
-
1:12 - 1:16But I think this lecture has some merit
in that it finally collects a wide range -
1:16 - 1:21of studies, discussed over several years
on the show, into one convenient place -
1:21 - 1:25hopefully making it easier for fans of
the show to review the information -
1:25 - 1:30or share with a friend and please do
share. This is important research and I -
1:30 - 1:34know doctor Galen would agree with me
in thinking that it hasn't gotten as -
1:34 - 1:37much attention as it deserves.
So you'd be doing us -
1:37 - 1:41and the cause of skepticism
a great favor by sharing this lecture -
1:41 - 1:46on whatever blogs or social media you
frequent and never underestimate -
1:46 - 1:48the power of good old
word-of-mouth sharing either. -
1:48 - 1:53And please visit doubtcast.org to share
any comments or questions or feedback -
1:53 - 1:55you may have about the episode.
-
1:55 - 1:59So be sure to tune in next week for
the Doubtcasters review -
1:59 - 2:03of the New Christian propaganda film
“God's not dead”. -
2:03 - 2:07Should be a good one. Until then, take
care and keep doubting. -
2:07 - 2:17(Music)
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2:17 - 2:19(Applause)
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2:19 - 2:21Thank you for coming and thank
you for the privilege of -
2:22 - 2:25allowing me to speak to your group. My
name is Jeremy Beahan. -
2:25 - 2:30I teach World Religions and Introduction
to Philosophy along with a handful of -
2:30 - 2:32other subjects
at Kendall College of Art and Design. -
2:32 - 2:35I'm also the producer and cohost
-
2:35 - 2:38of the Reasonable Doubt Podcast which
-
2:38 - 2:43at its peak was the top atheist podcast
on iTunes for several years, -
2:43 - 2:47won the People's Choice
podcasting award -
2:47 - 2:52for best religious inspirational podcast
which was - (Laughing) - different. -
2:52 - 2:55People look at me funny
when I mention that. -
2:55 - 3:00I'm speaking tonight on the issue of
“Does religion make people better?” -
3:00 - 3:02and we're approaching
this not so much from a philosophical -
3:02 - 3:05perspective, as you usually
hear this question grapple with, -
3:05 - 3:09but we're approaching this
from an empirical standpoint. -
3:09 - 3:11What can science actually tell us
-
3:11 - 3:16about how religion affects morality.
The subtitle here's a skeptical review -
3:16 - 3:18of the religious pro-sociality hypothesis.
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3:18 - 3:21So, that might take some explanation.
-
3:21 - 3:24You might guess from that subtitle that
this is going to be a bit have been -
3:24 - 3:27informationally dense talk tonight.
-
3:27 - 3:29But I don't have to tell you
that in our culture -
3:29 - 3:33there's an overwhelming assumption
among the general public -
3:33 - 3:37that being religious is necessary
to be a happy and ethical person. -
3:37 - 3:40We have plenty of preachers
and pundits and ordinary people -
3:40 - 3:44reminding us daily that without God
society will quickly de-evolve -
3:44 - 3:49into wickedness and anarchy.
What you may not be familiar with -
3:49 - 3:53as much however is the growing body
of social psychology research -
3:53 - 3:57that at first glance actually
seems to support this notion. -
3:57 - 4:02The more technical term for the
hypothesis that religion makes us good -
4:02 - 4:05is known as the religious
pro-sociality hypothesis. -
4:05 - 4:09My task tonight is to present you with
an overview of this research -
4:09 - 4:14and to acquit you with the tools
necessary to think critically about it. -
4:14 - 4:18Because as we're about to see the
religious pro-sociality hypothesis -
4:18 - 4:20really does indeed
have some support. -
4:20 - 4:24But when we look at the evidence
more closely, we're going to -
4:24 - 4:27discover little devils
within the details. -
4:27 - 4:30But first I have to
give you a quick disclaimer: -
4:30 - 4:33I don't get any credit or blame
-
4:33 - 4:37for what I'm about to say this evening.
This is not my research -
4:37 - 4:40that I'm reporting on, this is actually
doctor Luke Galen's research. -
4:40 - 4:44He is a professor of psychology of religion
-
4:44 - 4:46at Grand Valley State University and
-
4:46 - 4:51almost all what I'm going to be drawing
from tonight comes from his paper -
4:51 - 4:56in the Psychological Bulletin of
the American Psychological Association -
4:56 - 5:01called: “Does religious belief promote
pro-sociality, a critical examination”. -
5:01 - 5:04How did I get involved in this topic?
-
5:04 - 5:07He put me in charge of
-
5:07 - 5:10writing up a summary of his research,
-
5:10 - 5:14kind of distilling pages
upon pages and pages of review -
5:14 - 5:18into something coherent
that the average consumer -
5:18 - 5:22could actually understand.
So that was my task writing up -
5:22 - 5:25his review and free inquiry,
since Luke Galen -
5:25 - 5:29doesn't like their leave the house
too often or interact -
5:29 - 5:32with ordinary human beings.
(Laughing) -
5:32 - 5:34He kind of appointed me
to be his spokesman. -
5:34 - 5:37He jokingly refers to me
as Galen's Bulldog. -
5:37 - 5:41I guess I'm Thomas Henry Huxley
to his Darwin. -
5:41 - 5:45So I've been glad to have
the opportunity to do interviews -
5:45 - 5:49and talk to groups like this
about this research because I think it -
5:49 - 5:51needs to get out there.
-
5:51 - 5:54All right,
before we go any further -
5:54 - 5:57let us define
what we mean by pro-sociality. -
5:57 - 6:02I hate that word already.
I am barely into this lecture -
6:02 - 6:05and tired of saying it,
-
6:05 - 6:10but the term pro-social refers
to any kind of positive social behavior -
6:10 - 6:15and this runs the gamut from generosity
in the form a charitable giving -
6:15 - 6:20or time spent volunteering to personal
qualities perhaps -
6:20 - 6:22such as positive personality traits:
-
6:22 - 6:27being helpful, being honest and there's
actually an impressive array of -
6:27 - 6:31scientific studies that support this
hypothesis, that try to show -
6:31 - 6:36that the religious exhibit greater
pro-sociality than the non-religious. -
6:36 - 6:40In effect this has even become the subject
of a number a popular books. -
6:40 - 6:42One you may have heard of
-
6:42 - 6:46is “A Friendly Letter to Skeptics
and Atheists” by David Myers -
6:46 - 6:51or more recently “American Grace, How
Religion Divides and Unites Us”. -
6:51 - 6:54So the general public is being told
that the data are in -
6:54 - 6:59and religion makes you happy, happier,
healthier and more helpful. -
6:59 - 7:05That this is a conclusion that is not
just philosophy or religion. It's science. -
7:05 - 7:08In fact even some atheists
are getting in on this. -
7:08 - 7:11A seemingly overwhelming case
for the pro-social effects -
7:11 - 7:15of religion has been enough to
convince people here like Jessie Bering, -
7:15 - 7:20an atheist psychologist and actually a
pretty good author. -
7:20 - 7:25Enough to convince him that religion
is beneficial, at least for others. -
7:25 - 7:29In a recent Slate article
entitled *“Don't trust the godless”(, -
7:29 - 7:33Jesse Bering confessed; "Even as an
atheist, I have more confidence -
7:33 - 7:37in religious people
and now science is backing me up.” -
7:37 - 7:41A fuller quote is up here; "This is a
difficult confession to make -
7:41 - 7:46because on the surface I'm sure
it sounds wildly, wildly hypocritical. -
7:46 - 7:51Still here it goes; "I trust religious people
more than I trust atheists." -
7:51 - 7:53Trustworthiness is a different thing
altogether from intellect -
7:53 - 7:57and I suppose
I'm the ever so social pragmatist -
7:57 - 7:58in my dealings with other people."
-
7:58 - 8:03So pretty serious claim,
if you get even atheist psychologists -
8:03 - 8:05saying; "Don't trust the godless".
-
8:05 - 8:07Before we go any further though
-
8:07 - 8:09we're going to have to look at
what are the kind of methods -
8:09 - 8:13that are used in pro-sociality research.
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8:13 - 8:16We're going to see a variety of different
-
8:16 - 8:19experimental setups and methods
for conducting this kind of research. -
8:19 - 8:23This would include self-reports,
what people say about themselves and -
8:23 - 8:28third-party ratings of individuals,
laboratory tests of behavior, -
8:28 - 8:32lab studies of economic games
– we’ll talk about those more later - -
8:32 - 8:34priming studies, where people are presented
-
8:34 - 8:37with the religious concept subconsciously
-
8:37 - 8:41- usually where they will not realize
they've been primed by the concept -
8:41 - 8:45and then we'll see what happens -
and also spirituality scales. -
8:45 - 8:49Scales are meant to design, to detect
the level of one's spirituality -
8:49 - 8:52and then we compare their behaviors on that.
-
8:52 - 8:54What I'm going to try to highlight
-
8:54 - 8:57is some other pitfalls
that researchers face -
8:57 - 9:00in each of these types
of research methods. -
9:00 - 9:03Let's start with the top report data;
-
9:03 - 9:06"Will being religious
make you a better person?" -
9:06 - 9:08Well, the fateful
certainly seem to think so. -
9:08 - 9:12When asked to give an assessment of
their own character and values, -
9:12 - 9:14religious individuals
tend to report being... -
9:14 - 9:18having a more grateful disposition;
they rate themselves as more helpful; -
9:18 - 9:22they claim to value forgiveness
more highly than the non-religious; -
9:22 - 9:26And many studies actually take
these self-reports at face value. -
9:26 - 9:29The fact that believers
think they're more moral -
9:29 - 9:33is actually taken as evidence
that they do exhibit -
9:33 - 9:38these pro-social traits. Big question is:
"Should we take believers at their word? -
9:38 - 9:42No. Not if their evaluations
are based on a self-serving bias -
9:42 - 9:46rather than a realistic assessment
of their own character. -
9:46 - 9:51Self-report data tend to be
unreliable by its very nature. -
9:51 - 9:56People are prone to forming positive
illusions about themselves. We all do it. -
9:56 - 10:00We tend to inflate our responses on
questionnaires as a result -
10:00 - 10:03to make ourselves look better.
-
10:03 - 10:06Sometimes this is just concern
over our own personal self-image. -
10:06 - 10:09Social psychologists call this
self-enhancement. -
10:09 - 10:12Or sometimes we want to make
a good impression with others -
10:12 - 10:15or good impression for our group in particular.
-
10:15 - 10:18This is sometimes referred
to as impression management. -
10:18 - 10:21While this is a widespread tendency
-
10:21 - 10:25and it's by no means restricted
just to the religious. -
10:25 - 10:28What's interesting is, this tendency
might be more pronounced -
10:28 - 10:31in those who have
a strong level of religious belief. -
10:31 - 10:36Highly religious people tend to view
themselves as better than others, generally. -
10:36 - 10:39Even better than
other religious individuals. -
10:39 - 10:44And they also evaluate themselves more
highly than non-religious individuals -
10:44 - 10:47on attributes that have absolutely
nothing to do with religion. -
10:47 - 10:50So for example they might
score themselves higher -
10:50 - 10:54on measures of intelligence
or being a good worker. -
10:54 - 10:59Things that do not seem immediately
related to their religious morality. -
10:59 - 11:03Those high in intrinsic religiosity
actually have been shown to have -
11:03 - 11:06a higher degree of self-enhancement
and impression management. -
11:06 - 11:12Just one example: if you prime a
Christian with self-esteem primes, -
11:12 - 11:17you'll see them actually rating themselves
as living up to Christian principles -
11:17 - 11:21more often than their fellow believers.
If however you do the reverse -
11:21 - 11:25and you offer up an assessment that
questions their high self-esteem -
11:25 - 11:29or make them write about something
that they don't like about themselves, -
11:29 - 11:32those who are high
in intrinsic religiosity -
11:32 - 11:36- that means the level of belief -
they are more likely -
11:36 - 11:40to resort to self-deception
as a compensating strategy. -
11:40 - 11:43Also highly religious people
are particularly -
11:43 - 11:47concerned with presenting themselves
as moral persons -
11:47 - 11:50and particularly threatened
when that self-image is challenged. -
11:50 - 11:54So, I guess the big question is;
"Why do researchers even rely -
11:54 - 11:58on these self-reports some of the time?"
Well, because at least in some cases -
11:58 - 12:02these positive self-assessments are actually corroborated by others:
-
12:02 - 12:05their family, their colleagues, their peers.
-
12:05 - 12:08So, third-party evaluators
rate religious individuals -
12:08 - 12:11as being nicer, more cooperative
and highly altruistic -
12:11 - 12:15and empathetic as well.
To some this is proof -
12:15 - 12:20that the self-reports are not
self-delusion, they're not moral hypocrisy. -
12:20 - 12:23They are correct assessments
of their character. -
12:23 - 12:27But I think we can still
be a little skeptical here. -
12:27 - 12:30When we're talking
about a predominantly religious society, -
12:30 - 12:32where about 80 to 95%
of people are religious -
12:32 - 12:36and around 75% are at least
nominally Christian, -
12:36 - 12:40it's a good bet that a significant
proportion of those subjects, families -
12:40 - 12:42and peers are also religious,
-
12:42 - 12:45meaning there's a possibility
of in-group bias at work here. -
12:45 - 12:48And actually there is some evidence
to support that. -
12:48 - 12:53In-group favoritism is a well-studied
phenomenon in social psychology. -
12:53 - 12:57Again, this is not just religious
people here, this is all of us. -
12:57 - 13:00It is natural for individuals to
derive self-esteem from the groups -
13:00 - 13:02they’re associated with.
-
13:02 - 13:05It's natural to provide
a positive image to the public -
13:05 - 13:09for those who share their identity.
So, consistent with the predictions -
13:09 - 13:11of social identity theory,
-
13:11 - 13:15we see believers tend to show more
favoritism towards other individuals -
13:15 - 13:17and speak more poorly of non-religious
-
13:17 - 13:21and this even includes
those from different religious groups. -
13:21 - 13:25Often the favoritism
- and here's the key point here - -
13:25 - 13:28often the favoritism is extended
to other religious individuals, -
13:28 - 13:31regardless of whether or not
they behaved well or poorly, -
13:31 - 13:35are still be reviewed more favorably,
-
13:35 - 13:38even when they've been up to no good.
I'll give you an example here -
13:38 - 13:43of when sometimes believers will rate
religious individuals more highly -
13:43 - 13:48than non-religious individuals, even when
they exhibit the exact same behaviors. -
13:48 - 13:52I was a part of this study
which was published in 2011. -
13:52 - 13:56I was a participant and so in front of a
camera I wore two different T-shirts, -
13:56 - 13:59I wore three actually:
just a plain white T-shirt -
13:59 - 14:03then in the other condition
I wore a Jesus fish T-shirt -
14:03 - 14:07and then third condition
I wore a Darwin fish T-shirt. -
14:07 - 14:11And then I read
the exact same script each time -
14:11 - 14:14which was I was presenting myself
as a college student -
14:14 - 14:19who was using my spring break to help
in disaster relief organization -
14:19 - 14:21and talking
about my positive experiences. -
14:21 - 14:24No mention of religion or anything else.
What we found in this study -
14:24 - 14:28was that people rated me
as more likable, -
14:28 - 14:32more intelligent, more trustworthy
and more kind, -
14:32 - 14:35and more moral overall
-
14:35 - 14:39when I was wearing the Jesus fish.
So exact same behaviors but a subtle cue -
14:39 - 14:44that I might be religious makes
people evaluate my behavior better. -
14:44 - 14:47Most studies that rely on peer-rated
ratings do not adequately control -
14:47 - 14:53for this tendency for in-group bias
and that's the problem. -
14:53 - 14:57Ideally researchers would ensure
that participants are completely unaware -
14:57 - 14:59of the religious identity
of those they're rating. -
14:59 - 15:03Then we have more reason to trust
their evaluations as accurate, -
15:03 - 15:07but this sadly is rarely the case.
However in studies -
15:07 - 15:10that do, and most studies
where the raters -
15:10 - 15:14are actually aware of their targets
religious identities -
15:14 - 15:16a clear bias emerges
and that suggests -
15:16 - 15:19an in-group bias
when the people know they're religious, -
15:19 - 15:23they rate them more positively.
There is an interesting twist to all of this: -
15:23 - 15:28non-religious individuals do not appear
to rate their fellow non-believers -
15:28 - 15:32as any more pro-social than they do the
religious. For some reason this -
15:32 - 15:37in-group bias doesn't seem to be affecting
the non-religious to the same degree. -
15:37 - 15:41Now should the fact
that non-religious people also rate -
15:41 - 15:45the religious highly, indicate that
these judgments are based on a clear -
15:45 - 15:49added assessment of their character?
Are atheists really going to have -
15:49 - 15:53a pro-religious bias? Actually it's quite
possible that they would -
15:53 - 15:57if their judgments have been swayed
by a strong religious, -
15:57 - 15:58pro-religious cultural stereotype.
-
15:58 - 16:02And again, there is evidence to suggest
that's the case. -
16:02 - 16:05Here's more evidence
for a pro-religious stereotype, -
16:05 - 16:09that we can find by looking at
similar studies that are conducted -
16:09 - 16:11in different cultures than our own.
-
16:11 - 16:15For example some report that happiness,
life satisfaction -
16:15 - 16:17and personality measures
like agreeableness -
16:17 - 16:21are more closely associated
with religion in the United States -
16:21 - 16:25than in the United Kingdom or Northern
Europe where religion is less dominant. -
16:25 - 16:29To give you one specific example:
this particular study here -
16:29 - 16:35asks people to rate their impressions
of people just from looking at photographs -
16:35 - 16:37of faces and smiling faces were judged
-
16:37 - 16:41to be more religious
than non smiling faces. -
16:41 - 16:44That was in the United States.
In the United Kingdom -
16:44 - 16:47the exact opposite was true and
-
16:47 - 16:51tends to be a general relationship
-
16:51 - 16:54between religion and self-control,
mental well-being, -
16:54 - 16:57psychological adjustment,
social support. -
16:57 - 17:01In general in societies where the
non-religious are the majority -
17:01 - 17:05the non-religious are rated more favorably
-
17:05 - 17:09on all those particular measures.
So, again evidence that there -
17:09 - 17:11is a cultural bias at work here.
-
17:11 - 17:14I think by now it should be clear that
self-report data doesn't provide -
17:14 - 17:18reliable evidence for the religious
pro-social reality hypothesis. -
17:18 - 17:22Self-evaluations on religious subjects
are vulnerable to self-enhancement, -
17:22 - 17:26impression management, distortions and
others and they are contaminated -
17:26 - 17:31quite possibly by a widely-held
pro-religious cultural stereotype. -
17:31 - 17:35It might be better
instead of trusting self-reports -
17:35 - 17:39to look at experimentally
controlled measures of behavior -
17:39 - 17:43or, if you prefer the way Jesus might say
it, we should judge believers -
17:43 - 17:47by their fruit not by their words.
Let's look at -
17:47 - 17:50what their actual deeds tell us.
Well, for one religious individuals -
17:50 - 17:54claim to value forgiveness
more than others -
17:54 - 17:57but actually any effect of their religiosity
on actual forgiveness -
17:57 - 18:02has been found to be negligible.
This is just one study -
18:02 - 18:06that shows that the comparison
of self-reports with controlled experiments -
18:06 - 18:09on behavior reveal how often believers
-
18:09 - 18:12fail to live up to their high opinion
of themselves. -
18:12 - 18:17Those in high in intrinsic religiosity again
- this is a measure of belief - -
18:17 - 18:20reported a more grateful disposition
but don't do not perform -
18:20 - 18:22better than anyone else in studies
-
18:22 - 18:25measuring reciprocal behavioral
gratitude: "Will they give back?" -
18:25 - 18:29High intrinsic religiosity doesn't seem
to reduce aggression -
18:29 - 18:33here is the scary detail:
it tends to make people think -
18:33 - 18:35they're less aggressive
than they really are. -
18:35 - 18:38Fundamentalists in particular report
-
18:38 - 18:41higher levels of altruism
towards everybody -
18:41 - 18:45but in reality they are
more willing to help friends -
18:45 - 18:48or like-minded individuals.
They're not as likely to help strangers -
18:48 - 18:52or what is sometimes called
'value violators', -
18:52 - 18:55perhaps like a homosexual or
something like that, -
18:55 - 18:59that is clearly on the wrong side
of the divide on some culture war issue. -
18:59 - 19:02We have to remember again
that everyone tends -
19:02 - 19:05to overestimate
how moral they actually are. -
19:05 - 19:10So, this is really common to find a gap
between how individuals predict -
19:10 - 19:12they'll behave
and how they actually behave. -
19:12 - 19:14If we were to take everybody in this
room we would probably -
19:14 - 19:17see the exact same phenomena.
-
19:17 - 19:20We are no different.
It's just that the fact -
19:20 - 19:23seems to be more pronounced
in religious populations. -
19:23 - 19:28As we said before, highly religious do
show a greater tendency -
19:28 - 19:32towards self-enhancement
on questionnaires and this disjunction -
19:32 - 19:34between self-reported measured behavior
-
19:34 - 19:38is actually wider in the religious
than in the rest of the population. -
19:38 - 19:41In fact the greatest gap
we can see -
19:41 - 19:45between altruistic beliefs and
altruistic behaviors -
19:45 - 19:48is actually found
in those who rate religion -
19:48 - 19:50as more important to them personally.
-
19:50 - 19:54What's funny is that sometimes
the experimental evidence -
19:54 - 19:58is so contrary
to our stereotypes about religion -
19:58 - 20:01that some researchers
put a spin on this conclusion. -
20:01 - 20:06What they're publishing
is showing no positive effect for religion -
20:06 - 20:09but their abstracts or the way
they interpret the data -
20:09 - 20:13speaks in glowing terms. For example
this particular study here. -
20:13 - 20:17McCullough & Worthington in 1999 said that
-
20:17 - 20:21"Even if religious people
are no more facile -
20:21 - 20:25at forgiving in real life situations
than are less religious people, -
20:25 - 20:30they do you desire to be forgiving and
go on about how great it is that they -
20:30 - 20:32want to be good forgiving people."
-
20:32 - 20:36I'd like to argue to you that praising
the leaders for their moral intentions -
20:36 - 20:38kind of misses the point.
-
20:38 - 20:41It's not that we just desire to be
better - and that's good - -
20:41 - 20:45in some cases they already
think they're superior. -
20:45 - 20:49And there are major dangers in having an unrealistic assessment
-
20:49 - 20:51of one's own character and limits
-
20:51 - 20:54Let's move on to a different type of study:
-
20:54 - 20:58religious priming studies.
Although religious individuals do not seem -
20:58 - 21:00to behave as morally as they report,
-
21:00 - 21:04it would still be very odd.
I personally would find it strange -
21:04 - 21:07if religion didn't have some impact
on moral behavior. -
21:07 - 21:11After all, scriptures and sermons abound
with exhortations to love thy neighbor, -
21:11 - 21:15to do unto others
as you would have them do onto you -
21:15 - 21:18and I think frequent exposure
to these messages -
21:18 - 21:20would result in pro-social behaviors.
-
21:20 - 21:24So priming studies are a useful way
of seeving this out. -
21:24 - 21:28Again participants are primed somehow.
Maybe they have to unscramble -
21:28 - 21:30a word bank
and it has religious words in it. -
21:30 - 21:32Or perhaps they have to read
-
21:32 - 21:35a portion of Scripture
and write a response to it. -
21:35 - 21:38Sometimes it can be really subtle:
symbols in the room, -
21:38 - 21:40a crucifix in the room,
-
21:40 - 21:44jewelry or clothing.
Sometimes it's just the context. -
21:44 - 21:48Conducting the experiment in a
church instead of, -
21:48 - 21:51say, a high school gymnasium
or something like that. -
21:51 - 21:55Well the good news of priming studies
is that this is the best evidence -
21:55 - 21:59we can find for the religious
pro-sociality hypothesis. -
21:59 - 22:01There's a lot of data supporting it.
-
22:01 - 22:02There are good studies
-
22:02 - 22:05showing greater honesty and generosity
-
22:05 - 22:08amongst the religious,
increased sharing, -
22:08 - 22:11increased cooperation,
better self-control in distressing situations -
22:11 - 22:16and greater resistance to temptation.
-
22:16 - 22:20So why are religious concepts so good at
priming these kinds of behavior? -
22:20 - 22:23Several studies cited a possible
mechanism here. -
22:23 - 22:25'Supernatural surveillance' they called it.
-
22:25 - 22:29The belief that one's actions
are constantly and inescapably -
22:29 - 22:32being observed by a divine being.
-
22:32 - 22:35Thinking that this is a strong
reminder to us -
22:35 - 22:38to be aware of our actions
and perhaps that's why -
22:38 - 22:42religious concepts prime
these pro-social behaviors. -
22:42 - 22:45God might be watching after all.
-
22:45 - 22:47But I wont to share
some curious details -
22:47 - 22:51that aren't as often shared
in these priming studies. -
22:51 - 22:54Neutral religious works
like Bible, the Cycle ???? -
22:54 - 22:58or Chapel don't seem to promote
any helping behavior. -
22:58 - 23:01It seems to be only positive words
like heaven, miracle or bless -
23:01 - 23:05that have that effect on people.
Even more interesting -
23:05 - 23:08the positive effects
don't seem to be dependent -
23:08 - 23:12on the participants level of religiosity.
You can be just kind of religious -
23:12 - 23:14or you could be a hardcore fundamentalist
-
23:14 - 23:17and the priming affects you the same way.
-
23:17 - 23:22Also, non-religious people respond
positively to religious primes -
23:22 - 23:25and to the exact same degree
as their religious counterparts. -
23:25 - 23:31If you were to look at all those symbols,
you would act more morally too. -
23:31 - 23:34Even more interesting:
priming secular concepts, like civil -
23:34 - 23:38or court, seem to have
the same power to promote -
23:38 - 23:42honesty or lower hypocrisy
as religious primes do. -
23:42 - 23:45And religious destructive atheists:
-
23:45 - 23:48the distrust they have for us
goes down -
23:48 - 23:52when the religious are primed
with concepts of secular authority. -
23:52 - 23:55That's really interesting.
Why would that possibly be? -
23:55 - 24:00Well, one idea, not exactly sure,
but one idea is that the leaders know -
24:00 - 24:04that atheists do not live their lives
as if God is watching them. -
24:04 - 24:06So without the supernatural monitoring
they may wonder -
24:06 - 24:10what reason we have
for behaving well. -
24:10 - 24:14But this distrust can be ameliorated
when we are reminded -
24:14 - 24:17that morality can be
monitored in different ways. -
24:17 - 24:19So these kind of pacific primes
remind everybody; -
24:19 - 24:23"Oh wait, there is a social order,
there is something keeping these -
24:23 - 24:27evil atheists in check." And so their negative impressions go down.
-
24:27 - 24:31Amazingly even the presence of a mirror
-
24:31 - 24:36or just pictures of eyes in the laboratory
will actually have these same effects -
24:36 - 24:41which actually really boost
that notion of supernatural surveillance. -
24:41 - 24:46Obviously this has implications
for the religious pro-sociality hypothesis. -
24:46 - 24:49Religious concepts do not seem
-
24:49 - 24:54to prime pro-social behavior like honesty
because they're religious. -
24:54 - 24:59It may be that any concepts that are
associated with morality in a particular -
24:59 - 25:03culture trigger greater concern
for protecting your reputation. -
25:03 - 25:06Again since there's a widespread
cultural stereotype -
25:06 - 25:08that religion is linked to morality here,
-
25:08 - 25:12religious concepts will activate moral
behavior, but as we pointed out -
25:12 - 25:15secular primes do just as well.
-
25:15 - 25:17While the positive effects
of religious priming -
25:17 - 25:21are the stuff of headlines, what you don't
usually hear about is the dark side -
25:21 - 25:23of religious primes.
-
25:23 - 25:25Numerous studies demonstrate
-
25:25 - 25:26that socially undesirable behaviors
-
25:26 - 25:31also manifest when subjects
are exposed to religious messages. -
25:31 - 25:35So for example, participants
who read passages from the Bible -
25:35 - 25:39depicting God sanctioned violence,
administer more electrical shocks -
25:39 - 25:41than the control group
in studies of aggression. -
25:41 - 25:45We should note this works
on non-believers as well. -
25:45 - 25:49Even a non-believer reading
those passages from the Bible -
25:49 - 25:54will also become more vicious
in their behaviors toward somebody. -
25:54 - 25:58It's just that the effect seems to
be more pronounced for believers. -
25:58 - 26:01Especially disturbing is this subgroup
-
26:01 - 26:05of religious believers
high in intrinsic religiosity -
26:05 - 26:08and also high in levels of submissiveness.
-
26:08 - 26:12This group was very disturbing
because they became the most vengeful -
26:12 - 26:16after being primed with religious words.
They really seemed to go off the rails. -
26:16 - 26:19So I guess what I'm saying is:
it doesn't affect all people equally. -
26:19 - 26:24Certain personality characteristics
come into play here too -
26:24 - 26:27to either aggravate
or kind of mute these responses. -
26:27 - 26:31I'd like to share this study real quick.
Experiments where people were assigned -
26:31 - 26:34to read the biblical version
of the golden rule -
26:34 - 26:38actually had no effect on diminishing
Christians’ homophobia. -
26:38 - 26:40So, negative attitudes
towards homosexuals -
26:40 - 26:42were not at all diminished
-
26:42 - 26:45by reading what we think
is a very positive prime, -
26:45 - 26:50right, the golden rule. Strangely enough
reading the Buddhist version -
26:50 - 26:54of the golden rule actually increased
their homophobic responses. -
26:54 - 26:58If they read another religious text
telling them to be merciful -
26:58 - 27:01and do onto others as you would have
them to do want to them, -
27:01 - 27:05they wanted to do that even less.
This is perhaps -
27:05 - 27:08because the moral imperative
-
27:08 - 27:12was coming from this
distrusted out-group source. -
27:12 - 27:16Likewise unscrambling words associated
with Christianity increased -
27:16 - 27:18racial prejudice
towards african-americans -
27:18 - 27:22that was found by Johnson,
lead author Johnson in 2010. -
27:22 - 27:26And attitudes toward all out-group
members became more negative -
27:26 - 27:29when experiments were conducted
in a church setting rather than -
27:29 - 27:32than in a civic context.
-
27:32 - 27:35This is a strange paradox
we're looking at here. -
27:35 - 27:37Religious priming seems to increase
-
27:37 - 27:42both pro-social behaviors like honesty and
sharing, and non pro-social behaviors -
27:42 - 27:47like aggression and prejudice. This will
make more sense I think to us when we -
27:47 - 27:49consider another curious,
-
27:49 - 27:53but consistent finding in this literature
-
27:53 - 27:56that the kindness of religious individuals
is typically not -
27:56 - 27:59extended universally to everyone.
-
27:59 - 28:03Instead the primary beneficiaries
of a religious pro-sociality -
28:03 - 28:09are usually other believers. This can be
most clearly seen in economic games. -
28:09 - 28:12So, to save a little bit of time
I'm not going to go into how all of -
28:12 - 28:18these games work, but they basically
start with people trading or exchanging money. -
28:18 - 28:22Those games are designed
to encourage cooperation and trust. -
28:22 - 28:26So basically
if the players work together, -
28:26 - 28:30they will both get further along,
but one player -
28:30 - 28:35might have the opportunity to make off
with more money if they deceive or lie -
28:35 - 28:38or cheat the other players.
So this is all trying -
28:38 - 28:40to assess cooperation, trust,
-
28:40 - 28:44giving, that sort of thing.
The economic games shown -
28:44 - 28:49in behavioral economic studies where
the religiosity of the participants is none. -
28:49 - 28:52- so we actually know what they are -
a general trend emerges: -
28:52 - 28:56religious individuals cooperate more
and give more money -
28:56 - 28:59than non-religious participants.
So they do that overall. -
28:59 - 29:03They give more and they trust more
than the non-religious. -
29:03 - 29:06The pro-sociality hypothesis is true.
-
29:06 - 29:09It's just has that twist:
they only give it to those -
29:09 - 29:11who share their religious identity.
-
29:11 - 29:15For example this study, Ahmed, 2009
found the clergy students -
29:15 - 29:19exchanged greater money offers
than non clergy students, -
29:19 - 29:24but only to those from their own
religious group. -
29:24 - 29:26These findings are almost,
well, they are most likely due -
29:26 - 29:30to that previous phenomenon
we mentioned of in-group favoritism. -
29:30 - 29:34But there also might be something else
going on here. This might be that -
29:34 - 29:36pro-religious cultural stereotype
-
29:36 - 29:39happening again, because notice:
non-religious participants -
29:39 - 29:43did not show the same in-group favoritism
-
29:43 - 29:46in those economic games.
They also trusted -
29:46 - 29:51religious participants more
than their non-religious peers -
29:51 - 29:55and allocated more money to them overall,
even though that money -
29:55 - 29:57would not be reciprocated.
-
29:57 - 30:02Yeah, it's amazing
how ingrained that stereotype is. -
30:02 - 30:03This pattern of preferential treatment
-
30:03 - 30:06is not limited
to behavioral economic studies. -
30:06 - 30:10It constitutes a general trend
across the entire literature. -
30:10 - 30:14In fact a new word had to be coined
just to explain it. -
30:14 - 30:18One researcher who is very popular in
this by the name of Saroglou -
30:18 - 30:22coined the term "minimal prosociality",
-
30:22 - 30:25meaning the greater helping on the part of
the religious that extended to friends -
30:25 - 30:28an in-group members
but not too out-group members -
30:28 - 30:31who threatened religious values.
-
30:31 - 30:35So, I guess the correct way to say it
or was consistent with most of the evidence -
30:35 - 30:36in these economic games
-
30:36 - 30:40are that religious people
are ‘minimally pro-social’. -
30:40 - 30:44And actually if we take this idea
of limited pro-sociality seriously -
30:44 - 30:47it explains a lot of other trends
that we see in the data. -
30:47 - 30:50For example across different cultures
we see that religiosity -
30:50 - 30:56is weakly but still positively correlated
with the value of benevolence, -
30:56 - 31:01charity, helping people out
and yet at the same time is negatively -
31:01 - 31:03related with the value of universalism,
-
31:03 - 31:06helping out, you know, your neighbor,
your stranger, -
31:06 - 31:11the Good Samaritan, that type of thing.
Again it seems like a contradiction, -
31:11 - 31:14but when you take the idea of limited
-
31:14 - 31:16or minimal pro-sociality seriously,
-
31:16 - 31:20it tends to make more sense.
It's that in-group favoritism again. -
31:20 - 31:23Also it might explain things
like why religious primes -
31:23 - 31:24increase ethnic prejudice
-
31:24 - 31:27and derogation of out-group members,
-
31:27 - 31:32because religious concepts activated
in-group bias in people's minds. -
31:32 - 31:35This also plays through
religious research on giving. -
31:35 - 31:38This one conclusion
I'm not as sure about, -
31:38 - 31:42but it is very clear that religious
organizations themselves -
31:42 - 31:47are the largest source of charitable giving.
Religious people give way more to charity -
31:47 - 31:51than the non-religious and that finding
has held up across the board. -
31:51 - 31:55But as other studies note,
many of the recipients of these, -
31:55 - 31:58even ones that are labeled secular,
-
31:58 - 32:03tend to be religious
or some religious organization. -
32:03 - 32:05So all this money is exchanging hands
within the in-group. -
32:05 - 32:07This would be really
interesting one to test -
32:07 - 32:09if we can tease out that in-group favoritism
-
32:09 - 32:13would we still see a charity gap
between the non-religious -
32:13 - 32:17and the religious? We might, actually I
suspect, we probably would -
32:17 - 32:21and for this reason
there's another aspect -
32:21 - 32:25to religious charitable giving,
and that is generosity -
32:25 - 32:29measured as a function
of religious importance -
32:29 - 32:33was smaller than those measured as a
variation in religious attendance. -
32:33 - 32:37That is church attendance
seems to be the key factor -
32:37 - 32:41in how much a religious person will give.
-
32:41 - 32:45If you actually
measure religiosity by belief, -
32:45 - 32:49how much conviction do you have
that God exists -
32:49 - 32:52we'll see that
that predicts giving to a lesser degree -
32:52 - 32:55then church attendance.
I think what's going on here is -
32:55 - 32:59when you're actually in the building,
you're given an opportunity -
32:59 - 33:02to give, right?
The plate is passed around -
33:02 - 33:06and there's social pressure for you
to put something in that plate. -
33:06 - 33:09I still think the religious should get
credit for this, but they get credit for -
33:09 - 33:13building institutions
that support charitable giving. -
33:13 - 33:15It may not be the belief,
the religious belief, -
33:15 - 33:17that's really motivating this behavior.
-
33:17 - 33:19So I guess that kind of brings up
an interesting question here. -
33:19 - 33:23How actually are we measuring religiosity
-
33:23 - 33:26because, as we just saw,
depending on how we measured it, -
33:26 - 33:28we might get different effects.
-
33:28 - 33:32Typically the methodology
that's employed here is to compare -
33:32 - 33:36a general population of people
to highly religious people -
33:36 - 33:40and weekly religious people.
And then the atheists agnostics -
33:40 - 33:44or all the nones, we call them,
those who declare no religious affiliation, -
33:44 - 33:46are mixed into that sample as well.
-
33:46 - 33:49There are different ways
again of measuring -
33:49 - 33:51intrinsically religiosity as I
mentioned is a measure -
33:51 - 33:54of metaphysical belief or commitment.
-
33:54 - 33:59Extrinsic religiosity, as I call it,
is often a measure of behavior, -
33:59 - 34:02how often do you pray,
engage in rituals. -
34:02 - 34:05That sometimes includes another way
that is measured -
34:05 - 34:09is measuring religiosity purely
through church attendance alone. -
34:09 - 34:13So whenever you see a study
that says religious people are better -
34:13 - 34:17at XYZ, the next question you should ask is;
-
34:17 - 34:20"Better compared to whom?"
And the reason is: -
34:20 - 34:24how one measures religiosity
has a major impact on your findings. -
34:24 - 34:27For example, frequent church attendance
has been linked -
34:27 - 34:31to modestly lower rates of mental
illness such as depression, -
34:31 - 34:35but the effect is negligible
when you measure -
34:35 - 34:37religiosity as strength of belief.
-
34:37 - 34:40Again, people have better mental health
because they're -
34:40 - 34:44in a congregation of people, they have a
support social support network, -
34:44 - 34:49like-minded people to talk to. The belief
doesn't seem to be as important. -
34:49 - 34:52Studies that control
for purely social factors -
34:52 - 34:54find a greatly diminished
or non-existent effect -
34:54 - 34:57of religious beliefs
on pro-social measures. -
34:57 - 34:59So you can see how we measure religion
-
34:59 - 35:04and who we compare our groups to
is very important in this debate. -
35:04 - 35:06Most frequently
the strongest pro-social effects -
35:06 - 35:08are associated with church attendance
-
35:08 - 35:12and social contacts
rather than just metaphysical belief. -
35:12 - 35:16So it appears that group affiliation
drives many of these behaviors. -
35:16 - 35:20Could a committed secular group
- like this one right here - -
35:20 - 35:24have effect on its membership
similar to that of a church? -
35:24 - 35:28In this book that I mentioned earlier -
unfortunately it's buried on page 472 - -
35:28 - 35:33you have to get
through all the good stuff -
35:33 - 35:36to finally see this qualification,
-
35:36 - 35:40but Robert Putnam mentions
"even an atheist -
35:40 - 35:43who happens to become
involved in the social life -
35:43 - 35:48of a congregation is much more likely
to volunteer at a soup kitchen -
35:48 - 35:50then the most fervent believer who prays alone."
-
35:50 - 35:54And then it goes on to say
- or slightly before that on page 465 - -
35:54 - 35:59he says: "Religious belief turns out to be
utterly irrelevant to explaining the religious -
35:59 - 36:04as in good neighbourliness."
That should've been on page 1. -
36:04 - 36:10But both reviewers in that book
didn't get that far. -
36:10 - 36:14You can guess how it was depicted
in the popular press. -
36:14 - 36:18In fact that's a major problem.
The problem with most studies is -
36:18 - 36:22that they are lumping all nonbelievers
together, without considering how -
36:22 - 36:24confident they are in their non-belief,
-
36:24 - 36:27whether or not they attend groups
like you do right here, -
36:27 - 36:29how involved they are
with the community overall. -
36:29 - 36:33They're just all dumped
into one pool: the non-religious. -
36:33 - 36:37And then they're compared with weekly
religious and highly religious, -
36:37 - 36:41typically highly religious people
who are in a church context. -
36:41 - 36:45When you do that, you do get
what's called a linear effect. -
36:45 - 36:50If pro-social, being happy, healthy
and more helpful is all on this axis, -
36:50 - 36:54and religiosity on this one,
we would see as religiosity rises -
36:54 - 36:57the more religious you get,
the more happy, helpful -
36:57 - 37:00and honest you are as an individual.
-
37:00 - 37:03But what we're kind of doing is
we're cutting off half of our sample. -
37:03 - 37:07The few studies that compare
highly religious people -
37:07 - 37:10with the confidently non-religious
actually show -
37:10 - 37:12what's called a curvilinear effect
-
37:12 - 37:15between religiosity and pro-sociality.
-
37:15 - 37:19To explain what's going on
with this curvilinear effect, -
37:19 - 37:24- I should have had noticed, but I didn't -
-
37:24 - 37:27Essentially what we do, what we've
done is we've expanded our sample. -
37:27 - 37:32So before the atheists and agnostics and
humanists were getting lost in this side of -
37:32 - 37:35the curve now we brought it out
-
37:35 - 37:39and we actually see that it's the
less confident, the weekly religious, -
37:39 - 37:40the weekly secular in the middle
-
37:40 - 37:45that tend to have poor
ratings on pro-social measures. -
37:45 - 37:48Oh, here's what I was looking for.
Nominal believers, -
37:48 - 37:52not atheists, show the highest levels
of depression actually, -
37:52 - 37:53the poorest mental health
-
37:53 - 37:56and they generally report
less satisfaction with life. -
37:56 - 38:01And fact is, this is true of the
cross-cultural data on this too. -
38:01 - 38:05The world value survey found that both
those who claim religion is very important -
38:05 - 38:07and those who claim
that it wasn't important at all, -
38:07 - 38:09tended to be the happiest.
-
38:09 - 38:14So curvilinear effects
are also found in the moral realm, -
38:14 - 38:19for example physicians, Doctors
Without Borders and that sort of thing -
38:19 - 38:23highest membership is going to be
highly religious and totally atheist. -
38:23 - 38:25
This is true when -
38:25 - 38:29Milgrams famous obedience trials
- if you're familiar with those studies - -
38:29 - 38:32where we get to see
just how much will somebody -
38:32 - 38:35obey the experimenter.
When those were replicated, -
38:35 - 38:38it was the extreme believers
and the extreme non-believers -
38:38 - 38:42that were most likely to disobey the
researchers unethical orders. -
38:42 - 38:47So actually being highly
religious or highly non-religious -
38:47 - 38:50seems to give you a little
bit more moral integrity. -
38:50 - 38:54Part of the hypothesis
why this might be is because -
38:54 - 38:58these pools of individuals, they're so
certain of their world view -
38:58 - 39:04that they're not as kicked around
by the pressure of social conformity as others. -
39:04 - 39:06So it appears that confidence in one's worldview
-
39:06 - 39:09and regular affiliation with like minded people
-
39:09 - 39:13are far more important to well-being
and moral integrity -
39:13 - 39:17than your particular beliefs
about metaphysics. Sorry guys, -
39:17 - 39:22even some non-believers are sad to hear
that sometimes, they want to believe that -
39:22 - 39:25believing the right thing, having the
right grasp on reality -
39:25 - 39:27will make you a better person
-
39:27 - 39:32and it doesn't seem that metaphysical
beliefs are all that important. -
39:32 - 39:37But sadly studies are not designed to
notice curvilinear effects a lot of times -
39:37 - 39:42And when they aren't, they can give
the impression that atheists are in danger -
39:42 - 39:44of poor physical or mental health
-
39:44 - 39:50and this is exactly what we see with the military's spiritual fitness scale, that they have.
-
39:50 - 39:53I don't know if anybody has
ever heard of that? -
39:53 - 39:57The US military has a spiritual fitness
dimension in their instrument -
39:57 - 40:00that they use to assess
a soldier's wellness and mental health. -
40:00 - 40:04And they conclude that soldiers
have the greatest resiliency -
40:04 - 40:06when they are spiritual,
when they are religious -
40:06 - 40:11and this has prompted
some superior officers -
40:11 - 40:14to go find their underlings
who are non-religious -
40:14 - 40:19and to pressure them into prayer meetings
and other religious services, right, -
40:19 - 40:22because it's bad for their health.
They might be in a suicide risk. -
40:22 - 40:29However though an examination of the
actual question items on the spirituality scale -
40:29 - 40:32shows a major flaw in the way
these concepts are measured. -
40:32 - 40:37And it's going to be my last major point
about how this research is conducted. -
40:37 - 40:39"Criterion contamination"
-
40:39 - 40:42this is where the pro-sociality literature
-
40:42 - 40:46defines spirituality in a way
that kind of begs the question. -
40:46 - 40:51So for example, usually when we
make a prediction -
40:51 - 40:55of some sort of criterion, you want the
items used in the prediction -
40:55 - 40:59to not contain elements
of what is being predicted. -
40:59 - 41:03If you flip the conclusion
and you put it in your premise, -
41:03 - 41:06you're arguing in a circle, right?
-
41:06 - 41:08But yet we see
this happen all the time, -
41:08 - 41:11we see the reverse
happening all the time. -
41:11 - 41:15For example this right here.
Religiously engaged individuals -
41:15 - 41:19have greater social networks,
but religious engagement -
41:19 - 41:23was defined by having church social contacts.
-
41:23 - 41:27So really all this is saying
- I mean it sounds really good, right? - -
41:27 - 41:31Doesn't it? Wow? Religious
engagement really benefits us. -
41:31 - 41:34All this is saying, is;
"Socially engaged religious people -
41:34 - 41:36are socially engaged religious people."
-
41:36 - 41:41That is all that is said .
Many spirituality scales measure concepts -
41:41 - 41:46that do not necessarily refer
to supernatural believes either. -
41:46 - 41:50For example, these are all the things
that will get you a high rating as a -
41:50 - 41:53spiritual person on these fitness scales.
-
41:53 - 41:56"I believe there is
a larger meaning to life. -
41:56 - 42:00It's important for me
to give something back to my community." -
42:00 - 42:03If you answer yes to that,
you're labeled as religious on this scale. -
42:03 - 42:07"I believe that humanity
as a whole is basically good." -
42:07 - 42:10If you have a positive humanistic outlook,
-
42:10 - 42:14you might say you're going to score
on that spirituality scale too. -
42:14 - 42:19"I'm concerned about those
who will come after me in life." -
42:19 - 42:23So numerous studies including this
military spiritual fitness assessment -
42:23 - 42:27claims to demonstrate that religiosity is
related to pro-social outcomes, -
42:27 - 42:31but they are really
just criterion contamination effects. -
42:31 - 42:33Having pro-social traits here
-
42:33 - 42:36is what defines being religious.
-
42:36 - 42:39Just begging the question.
And as we know many atheists -
42:39 - 42:43with a broader sense of meaning
would score ‘spiritual’ on these same scales. -
42:43 - 42:47This artificially inflates the apparent
relationship between religiosity -
42:47 - 42:51or spirituality and these positive
pro-social outcomes. -
42:51 - 42:55All right.
So, tying it all together. -
42:55 - 42:59The question; “Does religion make us
better?” actually doesn't admit -
42:59 - 43:03of a simple answer. You've already seen
evidence showing: "yes and no" -
43:03 - 43:07or "yes in particular ways and no and other
particular ways". -
43:07 - 43:10Unfortunately this stuff just doesn't
work in a sound bite -
43:10 - 43:12and we live in a sound-bite culture.
-
43:12 - 43:15The conclusion one reaches depends
-
43:15 - 43:20on the measure of religiosity being used;
the way pro-sociality is defined. -
43:20 - 43:23We have to be cognizant of a host of
-
43:23 - 43:26complicating factors if we're going to be accurate.
-
43:26 - 43:31Really this is like a minefield for a critical thinker.
-
43:31 - 43:36Even the most experienced critical thinker
is going to run into problems -
43:36 - 43:38with how complex this data is.
-
43:38 - 43:43So we came up with 10 questions for
thinking critically about religious pro-sociality -
43:43 - 43:49that will help people in the future
to think more carefully about these studies. -
43:49 - 43:53Number 1: has the research controlled
for the possibility that stereotypes -
43:53 - 43:58- such as the expectation that
religious individuals will be more pro-social - -
43:58 - 44:01have those stereotypes affected
self-reports and ratings? -
44:01 - 44:052: Are the results based on evidence
that have been compromised -
44:05 - 44:07by in-group favoritism or bias?
-
44:07 - 44:113: When pro-social effects follow
the priming of religious concepts, -
44:11 - 44:14
will those same effects follow secular prime? -
44:14 - 44:16That's a great one
for the priming study. -
44:16 - 44:20Number 4: is the study also able
to detect potential negative -
44:20 - 44:23as well as positive effects
for religious primes? -
44:23 - 44:295: Is the research based on self-reports
or does it also measures actual behaviors? -
44:29 - 44:34If it doesn't measure actual behaviors,
it's worthless. -
44:34 - 44:386: could the context of this study have
an impact on the results? For example, -
44:38 - 44:43would this study get the same results in
the United States as opposed to -
44:43 - 44:48other nations in Northern Europe that
are predominately non-religious? -
44:48 - 44:527: are the results solely attributable to
religious belief itself -
44:52 - 44:54or is there a group affiliation effect
going on? -
44:54 - 44:58If church attending believers are compared to non church attenders,
-
44:58 - 45:02the sources of any differences
might be unclear. -
45:02 - 45:06Number 8: does the study conflate non-believe with low religiosity
-
45:06 - 45:09or do we have a clear measure
of the non-believers? -
45:09 - 45:14By the way, for we gonna fulfill number 8
we need more research on secularists. -
45:14 - 45:18So we need more researchers willing
to study communities like this -
45:18 - 45:20and answer surveys and that sort of things.
-
45:20 - 45:22If you ever see those things pop up in your inbox.
-
45:22 - 45:26Please take'm.
You will help us all. -
45:26 - 45:28Number 9: do the religious groups
under comparison allow -
45:28 - 45:31for an examination of curvilinear effects?
-
45:31 - 45:34That is, if you're comparing a church group,
-
45:34 - 45:39you got to compare it with an equal group like this.
-
45:39 - 45:42Number 10: has religion or spirituality
-
45:42 - 45:46been defined in a way that
would also include -
45:46 - 45:49pro-social behavior
just from the definition? -
45:49 - 45:53I think if you watch for those things
you're going to have a leg up -
45:53 - 45:58on most other people who are paying attention
to this particular research. -
45:58 - 46:02I hope you got something out of that.
I hope that brings a little more clarity -
46:02 - 46:04to this often confusing debate
-
46:04 - 46:09and a last thing I just wont to put
in another plug for my podcast: -
46:09 - 46:16if you happen to enjoy what you heart tonight,
found it enlightening at all, -
46:16 - 46:19both I and the author of the
the Psych Review, Luke Galen, -
46:19 - 46:22we both work
on this podcast "Reasonable Doubts", -
46:22 - 46:26you can find it at doubtcast.org.
-
46:26 - 46:28It is one of the most informationally dense
podcasts you'll find -
46:28 - 46:31that still manages to be funny from time to time.
-
46:31 - 46:33I thank you very much.
-
46:33 - 46:41(Applause)
-
46:42 - 46:45To catch up on past Reasonable Doubts episodes
-
46:45 - 46:46or to email your questions or comments,
-
46:46 - 46:50check out www.doubtcast.org
-
46:50 - 46:54Reasonable Doubt is a production
of WPRR Reality Radio. -
46:54 - 46:59You can find out more about Reality
Radio at publicrealityradio.org -
46:59 - 47:04Reasonable Doubt's theme music is performed
by Love Fossil and used with permission -
47:04 - 47:18Subtitled by www.kritischdenken.info
- Title:
- Reasonable Doubt Extra: Does Religion Make Us Better People?
- Description:
-
Does religion make us happier, healthier and more helpful? A number of popular psychology books and articles argue that religion is a positive force for enhancing the health and well-being of both individuals and whole communities. A careful examination of the social psychological literature, however, reveals a complicated relationship between religion and "pro-social" traits that defies such a simple characterization. Luke Galen, Professor of Psychology at Grand Valley State University, recently reviewed dozens of studies on religion and pro-social traits for the American Psychological Association's Psychology Bulletin, exposing some of the misleading ways in which this research is conducted and presented to the public. For this talk Jeremy Beahan (instructor of Philosophy and World Religions at Kendall College of Art and Design and co-host of the popular Reasonable Doubts Podcast) will summarize key details of the review in a way that is accessible to non-professionals and reveal the devil lurking in the details.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/reasonabledoubts/2014/04/07/rd-extra-does-religion-make-us-better-people-galens-bulldog-edition/
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 47:21
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Emile Dingemans edited English subtitles for Reasonable Doubt Extra: Does Religion Make Us Better People? | |
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timelezz edited English subtitles for Reasonable Doubt Extra: Does Religion Make Us Better People? | |
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timelezz edited English subtitles for Reasonable Doubt Extra: Does Religion Make Us Better People? | |
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Rik Delaet edited English subtitles for Reasonable Doubt Extra: Does Religion Make Us Better People? | |
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timelezz edited English subtitles for Reasonable Doubt Extra: Does Religion Make Us Better People? | |
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timelezz edited English subtitles for Reasonable Doubt Extra: Does Religion Make Us Better People? |