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CosmicFool
Psychoholic


Registered: 05/14/06
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Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural?
#7934957 - 01/26/08 01:00 PM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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This is interesting if true, but I don't feel their methods of creating lonely people is very good.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080125/sc_livescience/lonelinessbreedsbeliefinsupernatural;_ylt=AvUYPCTsUQ_mH.nl3z9mJnDq188F
People who feel lonely are more likely to believe in the supernatural, whether that is God, angels or miracles, a new study finds.
ADVERTISEMENT Humans have evolved as social creatures, so loneliness cuts to the quick. Living in groups was critical to the survival and safety of our ancient ancestors, and "complete isolation or ostracism has been tantamount to a death sentence," said University of Chicago researcher Nicholas Epley, who led the study.
While group living isn't critical to survival in the modern world, feeling socially connected is. Feeling isolated and lonely is a very painful emotional state for people, Epley said, and can lead to ill health, both physically and mentally.
"Being socially isolated is just not good for you," he said.
When people feel lonely, they may try to rekindle old friendships, seek out new ones or, as Epley's study suggests, they may create social connections by anthropomorphizing nearby gadgets, such as computers or cars, pets, or by believing in supernatural events or religious figures.
Pets and religion
In their study, detailed in the February issue of the journal Psychological Science, Epley's team tried to induce feelings of loneliness in people to see how it affected how they thought of pets and their belief in religious figures.
In one experiment, college undergraduates were shown movie clips and told to try and empathize with the protagonist as best they could, in order to set them in one of three emotional states.
One group was shown a clip from "Cast Away," the movie in which the main character played by Tom Hanks is deserted on a remote island, in order to induce a feeling of isolation. The second group was shown a clip from the crime thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" to promote a sense of fear. A third, control group was shown a clip from the sports comedy feature film "Major League."
All three groups were then asked to describe a pet they owned or knew well and pick three traits from a list that best described them. The list included anthropomorphic traits that related to social connections (thoughtful, sympathetic) and simple behavioral descriptions (aggressive, energetic, fearful).
Participants from the loneliness group were more likely to describe the pet using the anthropomorphic descriptions than those in the fear or control groups.
All three groups were also asked to rate their belief in ghosts, angels, the devil, miracles, curses, and God, and again, those in the loneliness group reported stronger belief in these supernatural agents.
Future predictions
In another part of their study, Epley and his colleagues asked participants from the University of Chicago to fill out a personality questionnaire and were then told that the answers would be fed to a computer which would generate a future-life prediction for them. Half of the participants were read statements implying they would be lonely later in life, while the other half were told they would be socially connected for the rest of their lives.
"We tried to manipulate their loneliness, to make them feel lonely," Epley said.
The participants were then asked to rate their belief in the same supernatural agents in the other study, and those in the "lonely group" reported stronger belief than those in the "connected group." The results were also compared to ratings the participants gave before they got their life predictions, and those who reported a belief in God before and were made to feel lonely reported a stronger belief after the experiment.
"We found that inducing people to feel lonely made them more religious essentially," Epley told LiveScience, though he notes it won't cause any sudden conversions.
Health benefits
Owning pets and religious beliefs and practices are both known to increase a person's sense of well-being, but why exactly that is isn’t well known, Epley said.
Epley and his colleagues plan to probe the issue further to see if anthropomorphizing pets or believing in anthropomorphized supernatural agents is what is responsible for alleviating feelings of loneliness. If it is, it could provide alternate means for people to feel socially connected when connecting to humans isn't an option.
"There are health benefits that come from being connected to other people, and those same benefits seem to come from connection with pets and with religious agents, too," Epley said.
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Ginseng1
Elegant Universe



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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: CosmicFool]
#7935962 - 01/26/08 04:10 PM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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I think loneliness can breed any thing that the group mind doesn't necessarily share. Loneliness can breed sex with a grapefruit! Anything strange. Supernatural? Sure.. but loneliness can breed an obsession with cars or television... anything. Supernatural has nothing to do with isolattion IMO. Besides, back in the wasn't almost everybody in the planet convinced of supernatural workings?
-------------------- Flowing through beginningless time since time without beginning...
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AlteredAgain
Visual Alchemist



Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 11,181
Loc: Solar Circuit
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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: Ginseng1]
#7936148 - 01/26/08 04:49 PM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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I feel there's more factors than solitude involved. Hanging out only with one's self and receiving little to no input from other networks of mind can create a real platform for extraordinary experiences though.
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Veritas

Registered: 04/15/05
Posts: 11,089
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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: AlteredAgain]
#7936159 - 01/26/08 04:54 PM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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Being alone does not necessarily mean feeling lonely, just as spending all your time amongst others does not necessarily mean that you won't feel lonely.
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AlteredAgain
Visual Alchemist



Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 11,181
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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: Veritas]
#7936177 - 01/26/08 05:00 PM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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Quote:
Veritas said: Being alone does not necessarily mean feeling lonely, just as spending all your time amongst others does not necessarily mean that you won't feel lonely.
Qft. One's a physical state, the other emotional. I mixed them up.
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Veritas

Registered: 04/15/05
Posts: 11,089
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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: AlteredAgain]
#7936197 - 01/26/08 05:08 PM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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I find that I am extremely good company, and being alone is, therefore, not lonely.
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VisualLearner
Stranger

Registered: 01/11/08
Posts: 459
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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: Veritas]
#7963284 - 02/01/08 02:25 AM (16 years, 1 day ago) |
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Quote:
I find that I am extremely good company, and being alone is, therefore, not lonely.
Story of my life
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lester
String Snapper


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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: VisualLearner]
#7969268 - 02/02/08 03:44 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Some people are lonely due to their boredom with collectives. They see past the social game into the mystical one.
I don't believe lonliness "breeds" Mysticism .. although many Mystics might well be lonely people.
The article also smacks of Scientific superiorism with it's "anthropomorphizing" and other condescending language against a great gift of humankind - namely .. sensitivity and artistic propensity. Sorry to sound harsh, but I've read so much of this "hard-boiled/face-facts/toughguy" approach to the investigation of Mysticism that it's just getting plain annoying: everything tender seems to reek of the "pathetic fallacy" to these types of people.
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Ego Death
Justadropofwaterinanendlesssea


Registered: 04/27/03
Posts: 10,447
Loc: The War Machine
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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: CosmicFool]
#7969341 - 02/02/08 04:06 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Anything I talk about has come from me personally experiencing it. If lonelyness can cause you to see and feel things as real as anything in reality then maybe your right.
Someone told me people who have dogs are lonely. There are lonely people. There are lonely people that have dogs. Its likely a lonely person would get a pet. BUT, this does not mean people who have dogs are lonely people. Get ma drift?
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Poid
Shroomery's #1 Spellir



Registered: 02/04/08
Posts: 40,372
Loc: SF Bay Area
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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: Ego Death]
#7977646 - 02/04/08 01:18 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Science implies there is no God, so it is to be expected that any study resulting from the scientific method will not in any way assert the notion of God. If science hasn't yet been able to prove that there is a God, then it can't prove that there are acts of God either. With that in mind:
"Humans have evolved as social creatures, so loneliness cuts to the quick. Living in groups was critical to the survival and safety of our ancient ancestors, and "complete isolation or ostracism has been tantamount to a death sentence," said University of Chicago researcher Nicholas Epley, who led the study."
There have been, still are, and will be human beings who have been able to survive in the wild on their own; humans are not generally preyed on by predators, so isolation and ostracism are most definitely not tantamount to a death sentence. We may have evolved as social creatures, but maybe it's time to evolve from that itself.
""Being socially isolated is just not good for you," he said. "
Good for you in what sense? In a dietary sense? In a physically fit sense? In a financial sense? In an emotional sense? This statement assumes that everybody who is socially isolated is essentially the same kind of person; for example, somebody who doesn't eat right, exercise, make much money, or is sad due to loneliness. It's true that this may be a common trend amongst the socially isolated, but it's not to say that social isolation automatically induces these symptoms in a person.
""We tried to manipulate their loneliness, to make them feel lonely," Epley said."
That seems to be an exceptionally cynical quote. I'm not quite so sure what it's saying, the statement is quite ambiguous, but what I think it says is that they were trying to manipulate lonely students in order to make them feel more lonely. This is very unorthodox, and this study and it's administrators should go under investigation. I am not a lawyer, but something about that seems wrong, even illegal.
"Owning pets and religious beliefs and practices are both known to increase a person's sense of well-being, but why exactly that is isn’t well known, Epley said."
Does one really need science in order to understand why religious beliefs and owning pets can increase a person's sense of well-being?
""There are health benefits that come from being connected to other people, and those same benefits seem to come from connection with pets and with religious agents, too," Epley said. "
True, that being connected with creatures (humans and "animals" alike) provides humans with potential benefits, but benefits can be gained in complete social isolation as well.
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-------------------- Well I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you to be just like them. -- Bob Dylan  fireworks_god said:It's one thing to simply enjoy a style of life that one enjoys, but it's another thing altogether to refer to another person's choice as "wrong" or to rationalize their behavior as being pathological or resulting from some sort of inadequacy or failing so as to create a sense of superiority or separation as yet another projection of a personal fear or control issue.
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lessthanzero77
seeker



Registered: 11/26/07
Posts: 79
Loc: Anytown, USA
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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: Poid]
#7985192 - 02/05/08 11:33 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Owning pets and religious beliefs and practices are both known to increase a person's sense of well-being, but why exactly that is isn’t well known, Epley said.
...
"There are health benefits that come from being connected to other people, and those same benefits seem to come from connection with pets and with religious agents, too," Epley said.
Science may never know why exactly owning a pet or believing in an infinite other might increase a person's sense of well-being, what with all those health benefits to sort through.
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Poid
Shroomery's #1 Spellir




Registered: 02/04/08
Posts: 40,372
Loc: SF Bay Area
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Re: Does loneliness breeds belief in the supernatural? [Re: lessthanzero77]
#7988305 - 02/06/08 07:04 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I know I agree with you, but I don't quite understand what you mean by mentioning health benefits.
-------------------- Well I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you to be just like them. -- Bob Dylan  fireworks_god said:It's one thing to simply enjoy a style of life that one enjoys, but it's another thing altogether to refer to another person's choice as "wrong" or to rationalize their behavior as being pathological or resulting from some sort of inadequacy or failing so as to create a sense of superiority or separation as yet another projection of a personal fear or control issue.
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