Monday, November 07, 2011

Belief in God makes us lazy?

In the new study, the researchers primed more than 350 engineering students with the idea of God or faith, for example, by having participants write a sentence using a list of words with spiritual connotations. Students then completed skill tests in which they had to make as many words as possible from a group of letters. When prompted with religious imagery or language beforehand, the students came up with fewer words, regardless of their religious background, than those who hadn't been primed with such imagery.

The researchers think the lack of effort in the "religious-primed" group could be dictated by a belief that fate is in God's hands. If the students believe that God controls their destiny, trying to be better isn't going to help them actually be better, resulting in less effort. This entire thought process seems to be unconscious, but just the presence of these God-conjuring words or images could alter beh



Maybe believing in God doesn't make us lazy but causes us not to use words we might otherwise use, say like profane words, or uncomfortable words.

On a more somber note, 90% of Americans believe in God but a much smaller percentage actually truts God with their life.

No comments: