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Title: Highly Religious People Are Less Motivated by Compassion Than Are Non-Believers
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URL Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120430140035.htm
Published: Apr 30, 2012
Author: staff
Post Date: 2012-05-01 05:21:47 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 344
Comments: 22
ScienceDaily (Apr. 30, 2012) — "Love thy neighbor" is preached from many a pulpit. But new research from the University of California, Berkeley, suggests that the highly religious are less motivated by compassion when helping a stranger than are atheists, agnostics and less religious people. In three experiments, social scientists found that compassion consistently drove less religious people to be more generous. For highly religious people, however, compassion was largely unrelated to how generous they were, according to the findings which are published in the most recent online issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. The results challenge a widespread assumption that acts of generosity and charity are largely driven by feelings of empathy and compassion, researchers said. In the study, the link between compassion and generosity was found to be stronger for those who identified as being non-religious or less religious. "Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not," said UC Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer, a co-author of the study. "The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns." Compassion is defined in the study as an emotion felt when people see the suffering of others which then motivates them to help, often at a personal risk or cost. While the study examined the link between religion, compassion and generosity, it did not directly examine the reasons for why highly religious people are less compelled by compassion to help others. However, researchers hypothesize that deeply religious people may be more strongly guided by a sense of moral obligation than their more non-religious counterparts. "We hypothesized that religion would change how compassion impacts generous behavior," said study lead author Laura Saslow, who conducted the research as a doctoral student at UC Berkeley. Saslow, who is now a postdoctoral scholar at UC San Francisco, said she was inspired to examine this question after an altruistic, nonreligious friend lamented that he had only donated to earthquake recovery efforts in Haiti after watching an emotionally stirring video of a woman being saved from the rubble, not because of a logical understanding that help was needed. "I was interested to find that this experience -- an atheist being strongly influenced by his emotions to show generosity to strangers -- was replicated in three large, systematic studies," Saslow said. In the first experiment, researchers analyzed data from a 2004 national survey of more than 1,300 American adults. Those who agreed with such statements as "When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective towards them" were also more inclined to show generosity in random acts of kindness, such as loaning out belongings and offering a seat on a crowded bus or train, researchers found. When they looked into how much compassion motivated participants to be charitable in such ways as giving money or food to a homeless person, non-believers and those who rated low in religiosity came out ahead: "These findings indicate that although compassion is associated with pro-sociality among both less religious and more religious individuals, this relationship is particularly robust for less religious individuals," the study found. In the second experiment, 101 American adults watched one of two brief videos, a neutral video or a heartrending one, which showed portraits of children afflicted by poverty. Next, they were each given 10 "lab dollars" and directed to give any amount of that money to a stranger. The least religious participants appeared to be motivated by the emotionally charged video to give more of their money to a stranger. "The compassion-inducing video had a big effect on their generosity," Willer said. "But it did not significantly change the generosity of more religious participants." In the final experiment, more than 200 college students were asked to report how compassionate they felt at that moment. They then played "economic trust games" in which they were given money to share -- or not -- with a stranger. In one round, they were told that another person playing the game had given a portion of their money to them, and that they were free to reward them by giving back some of the money, which had since doubled in amount. Those who scored low on the religiosity scale, and high on momentary compassion, were more inclined to share their winnings with strangers than other participants in the study. "Overall, this research suggests that although less religious people tend to be less trusted in the U.S., when feeling compassionate, they may actually be more inclined to help their fellow citizens than more religious people," Willer said.
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#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Nonsense - poopaganda - pure shit - published by the mind fuckers themselves - a cult of psycho-babble. "The few who understand the [FEDERAL RESERVE] system will either be so interested in its profits or be so dependent upon its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests." The Rothschild brothers of London writing to associates in New York, 1863.
Translation: Highly religious people act compassionately even when they don't feel much compassion. Religion increases compassionate behavior. An old lonely slave comes back from the grave Except when it comes to starting and continuing wars. Odd how they are so concerned about a fetus, but dont give a damn about kids being blown to pieces. Just so they are someone elses kids, I guess. ------------------------------------------ Just so long as the goyim are dyin', it's all good.
They do not define "highly religious"....is this a person who is a regular church goer? Or is this a person who applies religious principle to everyday life?
" If you cannot govern yourself, you will be governed by assholes. " Randge, Poet de Forum, 1/11/11 "Life's tough, and even tougher if you're stupid." --John Wayne
The dyin' and the murderin'. I have to hand it to the kikes. They know how to manipulate. They get the stupid goy to worship their god, and that is imo the capstone of their achievement. Without that, the kikes would be a forgotten race, exterminated ages ago. One can be against the kikes (as many are here), but the kikes don't care, because they are still under the kikes control thru the kike invented religions. ------------------------------------------ They tried to make me take sociology but I got out of it. I attended two days of lectures by some tassle-loafer suit and tie long hair. I wanted to run screaming from the building. Social and Personality Psychology Consortium - Stanford University - Tavistock Institute. It is not in evidence anti-war protestors have real compassion for the casualties of war, on any side, any more than "Freedom Riders" had real compassion for blacks. An old lonely slave comes back from the grave And I did not say the increase in compassionate behavior was a good thing...
An old lonely slave comes back from the grave as a small businessman, I've found that highly religious people, 'lightworker teachers' - 'titled' healers of various ilks, christians, new agers in general can easily justify letting others suffer (So they can learn. We harm them by helping them) or letting me lose in a business deal ... "Oh, you need to learn a lesson. Write better contracts" that one kills me ... accepting their word is considered foolish ... as I help them build sites telling the world about love n light and humanity evolving /puk ..... like Bugs Bunny used to say "What a marooon" - I've found more honor amongst a bunch of bikers around a keg in a park than ever from a self-professed highly spiritual/religious person All this demonstrates, based on the data given, is that the non-religious test subjects were more given to impulse giving. I would note that in my area almost all nongovernmental relief and assistance is organized through churches and staffed by unpaid volunteers. One might just as well conclude that the religious are already giving, have confronted the needs and gave, and as consequence were already aware of the problems the non-religious were forced to confront in brief bursts. One could further argue that their impulse giving was as much a matter of not having been aware of the realities and thus motivated by guilt rather than a sense of charity. Profession of faith and belief is neither. Actions are what define the spiritual/religious and they are usually not terribly vociferous in proclaiming that they are "beeeeeeeeeeeeeeelievers in the Sweet Baby Jeeeeeeeezus™". However, observe the deeds not the words e.g., The Salvation Army, Red Cross, Red Crescent, Heifer's International, and such as Mother Theresa. All are religiously founded organizations or people. And hypocrisy is rife among the elements who proclaim their religiosity most loudly. It's like Mencken's comment (paraphrased from memory) - "Whenever I hear a man start talking loudly of his patriotism I start reaching for my wallet." This certaintly explains why there are so many atheist charities helping the poor all over the world.For highly religious people, however, compassion was largely unrelated to how generous they were, according to the findings which are published in the most recent online issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
#2. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Searching... searching... searching
For his master who's long gone on
#3. To: Prefrontal Vortex, 4 (#2)
Highly religious people act compassionately even when they don't feel much compassion. Religion increases compassionate behavior.
#4. To: PSUSA2 (#3)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#5. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
#6. To: Esso, 4 (#4)
Just so long as the goyim are dyin', it's all good.
#7. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
#8. To: PSUSA2 (#3)
Except when it comes to starting and continuing wars.
Searching... searching... searching
For his master who's long gone on
#9. To: PSUSA2 (#3)
Searching... searching... searching
For his master who's long gone on
#10. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
~ the truth will set ya free, but only after it pisses ya off ~
#11. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
#12. To: Amandil (#10)
I've found more honor amongst a bunch of bikers around a keg in a park than ever from a self-professed highly spiritual/religious person
#13. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Ohhhh, wait... are there any?
Anyone offended by this post, click here.
 | "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." -Albert Camus. |
#14. To: noone222 (#1) (Edited)
Nonsense - poopaganda - pure shit - published by the mind fuckers themselves - a cult of psycho-babble. It is interesting in that one of the most hostile groups toward religion has been Psychiatry and Psychology. Part of the problem is that the Psychs are materialists whose faith is founded upon a reverence for matter over spirit. In other words their entire worldview is founded in the belief that all life and existence emanates from physical matter, despite there being no proof and thus it is rightly named faith or quackery - your choice, and so they reject and even deny the existence of the non-material i.e., the spiritual - that quantity we call the human soul or more generally the life force. Since it conflicts with their assumptions, rather than to rationally explore it, they reject it out of hand and then falsely call that unexplored rejection science. Or it's rejection comes from the general intellectual laziness and dishonesty of Psychology and Psychiatry. Note the materialist bias in the next: For highly religious people, however, compassion was largely unrelated to how generous they were, according to the findings which are published in the most recent online issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
"In short, the nature of the hallucinations of Jesus, as they are described in the orthodox Gospels, permits us to conclude that the founder of the Christian religion was afflicted with religious paranoia." Psychiatrist Dr. Charles Binet-Sangle: La Folie de Jesus (The Madness of Jesus), 1910
"No one knows just how the idea of a soul or the supernatural started… It probably had its origin in the general laziness of mankind." John B. Watson, behavioral psychologist
"This dogma (the soul) has been present in human psychology from earliest antiquity. No one has ever touched the soul, or has seen one in a test tube, or has in any way come into a relationship with it as he has with the other objects of his daily experience." John B. Watson, behavioral psychologist
"The soul or consciousness, which played the leading part in the past, now is of very little importance; in any case both are deprived of their main functions and glory to such an extent that only the names remain. Behaviorism sang their funeral dirge while materialism – the smiling heir – arranges a suitable funeral for them." Statement delivered at the Sixth International Congress of Philosophy at Harvard University
"To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism and religious dogmas..." G. Brock Chisholm, psychiatrist and co-founder of the World Federation of Mental Health
#15. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
I would say I agree with this. I never attend church but I do believe in Jesus Christ as my personal savior. If I see a stranger that needs help, I will intervene. I have helped homeless people find jobs and also have fed some them out of my own pocket. I have dined with them in restaurants too. I didn't need to go to church to show how much compassion I had towards my fellowman. In fact, I strongly dislike attending church. I dreaded having to sit next to hypocritical people who refused to sit next to those they considered socially undesirable and don't speak in "tongues". I felt I don't need to prove my worthiness to those church goers of whether I am a "good" person or not. I let the Father Almighty do that job of determining my worthiness! Those who scored low on the religiosity scale, and high on momentary compassion, were more inclined to share their winnings with strangers than other participants in the study.
#16. To: noone222, Tatz, 4 (#1)
Agree. The term highly religious has no real meaning. I'd much rather associate with spiritual, rather than religious, people. That's just me. Nonsense - poopaganda - pure shit - published by the mind fuckers themselves - a cult of psycho-babble.
Break the Conventions - Keep the Commandments - G.K.Chesterson
#17. To: Original_Intent, Lod, Tatz, 4 (#14)
The 1950s were "happy days" - we had 1/10th of the shrinks, 1/100th of the drug problems, less divorce, no school shootings to speak of, no Homeland Security, no TSA, less teen pregnancy, less teen suicide ... I could go on and on ... either the shrinks are useless or they're talking to the wrong people. It appears that the more shrinks we get the nuttier things get.
"The few who understand the [FEDERAL RESERVE] system will either be so interested in its profits or be so dependent upon its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."
The Rothschild brothers of London writing to associates in New York, 1863.
#18. To: noone222 (#17)
That will garner no argument from me. The termites actually began working at it in earnest as far back as the 1920's with funding from the Robber Barons and Banksters. I don't know what the numbers are at present but as of about ten years ago 85% of all funding for Psychiatry came from one government "organ" or another. Most people aren't crazy enough to voluntarily submit themselves to the routine malpractice that is Psychiatry and Psychology. Hell, they're still "driving the demons out" with electroshock which does nothing more than fry the person's brain. And we know what their drugs and programs are doing to our society - destroying it. It appears that the more shrinks we get the nuttier things get.
#19. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Having known quite a few Prof's from there, this is as far as I need to read. But new research from the University of California, Berkeley
#20. To: Original_Intent (#14)
The soul may well be not much more than a constantly operating, biologically-based electro-chemical process that's storing and utilizing information. Don't knock shrinks. Who else could kooky guys find to talk to?
#21. To: Original_Intent (#18)
Another abuse in which the shrinks and therapists (the rapists) are complicit is the end run around the right not to incriminate onesself. Courts routinely refer individuals to a shrink and then order the shrink to turn over the person's file after the person has been told that their communications are strictly confidential. I don't know what the numbers are at present but as of about ten years ago 85% of all funding for Psychiatry came from one government "organ" or another. Most people aren't crazy enough to voluntarily submit themselves to the routine malpractice that is Psychiatry and Psychology. Hell, they're still "driving the demons out" with electroshock which does nothing more than fry the person's brain. And we know what their drugs and programs are doing to our society - destroying it.
"The few who understand the [FEDERAL RESERVE] system will either be so interested in its profits or be so dependent upon its favours that there will be no opposition from that class, while on the other hand, the great body of people, mentally incapable of comprehending the tremendous advantage that capital derives from the system, will bear its burdens without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."
The Rothschild brothers of London writing to associates in New York, 1863.
#22. To: noone222 (#21)
Good choice of words. If I recall correctly they also have the highest rate of sexual abuse of their Another abuse in which the shrinks and therapists (the rapists) are complicit is the end run around the right not to incriminate onesself.
patients victims. Yes, our criminal court system is complicit in many ways to the psych abuses and scams.
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