What is the Psychology/Mechanics of Religious Belief?

[Orbit]

From what I have observed, many theists use their religion as a coping strategy to deal with the problems of life.

 

[PureX]

Choose a conspiracy theory you don't believe in, Flat Earth, Moon Hoax, Reptiloid Aliens, you name it. What do you think is the psychology/mechanism behind people believing in it?

First, I don't "not believe in" things. I either believe something is false, or I believe that it's true, or I reserve judgment. Secondly, people choose to believe all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons, including you. And that is our choice, and our way as human beings. Because people have many different needs, and desires, and experiences, and different ways of cognating their experience of being them. So the way that works for one person may not work at all for another. Is there any reason that I should presume myself to be in charge of who's way is better than whom? Is there any reason that you should be? What possible value would there be in anyone appointing themselves the 'idea police'?

Certainly, we need to control our behavior as members of a collective cooperative society. If we will not or cannot do that, ourselves, our collective society will have to do it for us; for everyone's safety and well-being. But does this mean we should be trying to control people's concept of reality, and of truth? That we should be determining who is 'thinking right' and who is not, and then correcting the 'wrong thinkers'? Especially when everyone thinks THEY'RE the 'right thinkers'.

Seems to me we have to let people think whatever and however they choose. Especially since they're going to do it, anyway. And then focus on defining and controlling our collective behavior for the sake of the well-being of the societies we live in. So I'm not much concerned about who 'believes in' evolution or who 'believes in' an inerrant God-spoke Bible. Or who believes all women must have been born with and still have a vagina, or who believes abortion is murder, or who believes whatever. I am only concerned that all of us respect the laws that are supposed to be protecting us from each other.

 

[PureX]

From what I have observed, many theists use their religion as a coping strategy to deal with the problems of life.

Everyone uses any number of ideological strategies to help them to cope with the problems of life as a human. Some of those strategies work better for them than others. And some strategies work much better for some people than they do for other people. I don't view theists as being any more or less 'needy' than any other grouping of humans, as that need to cope seems to be a universal condition. The difference is in the specific needs being addressed, and the specific ways theists choose to address them, as opposed non-theists.

 

[Vitality]

It seems as though people gravitate towards things that provide them with a sense of belonging and purpose. The structure of religion offers guidelines for how to operate on a daily basis. I think this is part of why we see many people recovering from addiction turn towards religion. My own brother relapsed on multiple occasions after being released from detox programs because he was unable to maintain consistency day to day without the structure of a program. Faith and religion provide him with a foundation to fall back on when things get tough. It seems to reduce the need for personal accountability however. Why evaluate your own behavior and take steps to change when you can leave it up to God?

 

[RestlessSoul]

It seems as though people gravitate towards things that provide them with a sense of belonging and purpose. The structure of religion offers guidelines for how to operate on a daily basis. I think this is part of why we see many people recovering from addiction turn towards religion. My own brother relapsed on multiple occasions after being released from detox programs because he was unable to maintain consistency day to day without the structure of a program. Faith and religion provide him with a foundation to fall back on when things get tough. It seems to reduce the need for personal accountability however. Why evaluate your own behavior and take steps to change when you can leave it up to God?

If your brother is in a 12 Step recovery program, then he very much will be encouraged to evaluate and take responsibility for his own behaviour - though he won’t be expected to do that on his own.

The rest of what you say is, I think, pretty much spot on.

 

[firedragon]

Hello. I'm new to this forum and I hope that this topic is in the correct forum. But I have a question particularly for nonbelievers, however, by no means it is a challenge question. Also, believers are free to post in this topic too.

So, what I would like to ask particularly to nonbelievers is: What is your view on the psychology/mechanics of religious belief and what exactly do you think that believers in God are technically believing in in regard to their desire, their love, their adherence to what they believe is God?

And the reason why I ask is because there are various versions of Christianity, which have contradictory and conflicting policies and doctrines, but yet, within these various versions of Christianity, there are people who are sincere and very serious about worshipping God and having a relationship with God. However, for the most part, the people in these various versions of Christianity believe that their way or interpretation of believing and worshipping God is correct while often times believing that Christianity outside of their version of Christianity is incorrect.

And to expound upon these ideas, it seems as if in reality, belief and devotion to God (for many) is believing in the highest principles in your mind that make you feel safe and hopeful about life, along with the highest principles in your mind that produce community and caring and good deeds for others and with others. And of course, this would be in contrast to the darkness and the hopelessness that exists in our world.

So, does anyone have any thoughts about this?

The area of psychology in the religious aspects of human beings has to be approached naturalistically as a methodology. So even if you are religious, this particular topic has to be understood through hypothesis testing. There are works in the field and are very interesting. Professors Turner, Beithallahmi, etc has done good study on this case. Some of their theories state that religious adherence provides routine and also ecstasy. Psychological gratification and group cohesion. One thing with psychological studies and hypothesis testing is most of the data we gather will be correspondence data, not causal data. It is not like psychoanalysing a rapist.

In the Christian world Galileo was persecuted for teaching or/and accepting Copernicus and his teaching that earth is not the centre of the universe. Boyle and Newton thought that they were doing discoveries and finding "God's laws". With this kind of atmosphere one should not really take the different denominations as a negation. E.g. There are different ideas about the death of Kennedy, and that does not mean Kennedy didnt live.

YEs, it was Calvin who made a bold step in accepting scientific discovery. Religion being thought of as a research can have its theory and research data. Some believe psychology of religion will be the field that will eventually and honestly provide this data. The problem seems to be other than sociology of religion and sociology at large, behavioural studies seems to have diminished according to some scholars. So qualitative data is not in par with other sciences. Freud said that God is a father figure projected by human beings. He thought that religion is for the needy or something like that and thought religion as a whole will fade into thin air once science improves. Didn't happen so soon though. Well, in some countries, doctors actually prescribe an exorcism to people who have a "devil inside them". Well, Doctors dont prescribe the activity because they think God will drive the devil out of the person but because psychologically the patient who is having a psychological problem might truly believe this would help, and it might work as psychotherapy. And it works. Maybe not for all of them, but it does. Does this mean every person in the world who was ever cured by an exorcism was always having a natural, psychological problem and it worked as a psychotherapy? Maybe.

Psychoanalysis is not accepted by some of the more modern psychologists and they say that Freud was wrong in saying humans projected a father figure and called it "God". Because, the Christian will say they have a spirit, and there is Jesus, and they are not father figures. Others might say they have a female deity. Some will say we have Gaia which is more feminine, motherly, than fatherly. That is one of the reasons psychoanalysis is kind of negated in this area now. AND more importantly, a hypothesis has to be tested, and still regarded as correlatory. Social surveys are a huge hit in this field. Other studies are also active in this field, like experimentation. Though highly criticised because humans not machines to do experiments on expecting them to behave like machines, experimentation in some settings like with out intervention by the researcher has been found effective. When people dont know that they are the subject of a research, they might behave normally thus this could be vital data. Although, this would also have certain problems in study because of also-ran effect. Group mentality.

There was a study done by Barret which was a phenomenal study you should read. Its on children. Good read.

Good topic.

 

[Vitality]

If your brother is in a 12 Step recovery program, then he very much will be encouraged to evaluate and take responsibility for his own behaviour - though he won’t be expected to do that on his own.

The rest of what you say is, I think, pretty much spot on.

The 12 step programs haven’t worked well for him. He always ended up relapsing. The one that got him clean was an intensive 18 month inpatient treatment program for the homeless centered around Christianity. They helped him get a job and eventually a place to live. He went from being taoist to a Jesus freak. I’m just glad he found something that works for him. He now lives with my mom and is active at her church.

 

[RestlessSoul]

The 12 step programs haven’t worked well for him. He always ended up relapsing. The one that got him clean was an intensive 18 month inpatient treatment program for the homeless centered around Christianity. They helped him get a job and eventually a place to live. He went from being taoist to a Jesus freak. I’m just glad he found something that works for him. He now lives with my mom and is active at her church.

Whatever gets him through the night. Addiction is a nasty illness, and very few people can remain clean and sober on their will power alone. Good luck to your brother, and your whole family.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

H
So, what I would like to ask particularly to nonbelievers is: What is your view on the psychology/mechanics of religious belief

Humans, like most animals, are very prone to superstitious thinking.
Which is to say, they have a tendency to engage in cognition errors like the false positive. They also have a tendency to infuse agency in seemingly random events. These are survival mechanisms from back in the day when being hunted down by dangerous predators was a very real and very daily concern.

The classic example being a sound coming from the bushes. Is it just the wind? Or a dangerous predator sneaking up on you?

If you assume it is a predator and run - then you live in case it IS a dangerous predator. If it isn't a dangerous predator out to get you, then you have just engaged in a type 2 cognition error: the false positive.

If you don't assume it is a predator and it turns out to be one, then you are lunch.

This tendency of infusing agency in seemingly random events + being prone to cognition errors, seems to be the root cause of superstitious beliefs. Which includes religion.

We see this behavior of cognition errors even in pigeons.

and what exactly do you think that believers in God are technically believing in in regard to their desire, their love, their adherence to what they believe is God?

Well, the root cause of the tendency of superstition is explained above.
Obviously, the fill in the rest of the details, a whole bunch of other stuff comes into it as well. Like culture and environmental factors. For example, people living on plateau's like Tibet -far far away from any sea- will likely not be concerned with sea-gods like Poseidon.

And the reason why I ask is because there are various versions of Christianity, which have contradictory and conflicting policies and doctrines, but yet, within these various versions of Christianity, there are people who are sincere and very serious about worshipping God and having a relationship with God. However, for the most part, the people in these various versions of Christianity believe that their way or interpretation of believing and worshipping God is correct while often times believing that Christianity outside of their version of Christianity is incorrect.

And to expound upon these ideas, it seems as if in reality, belief and devotion to God (for many) is believing in the highest principles in your mind that make you feel safe and hopeful about life, along with the highest principles in your mind that produce community and caring and good deeds for others and with others. And of course, this would be in contrast to the darkness and the hopelessness that exists in our world.

So, does anyone have any thoughts about this?

I would expect people to come up with all kinds of different beliefs and variations of those different beliefs. The root cause of all of them is the same (explained above). The actual content is cultural, environmental and left over to the imagination of the people themselves to "fill in the blanks" to feed their own superstition.

And that is consistent with what we see in the world. Thousands of gods. Very very different gods. Most, if not all, with their own creation myths and peculiarities.

If religions are made up and a result of superstitious thinking, then that is exactly what I would expect.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Why ask a non-believer what their view of the psychology of religious believers, instead of believers?

I'ld guess because a believer will not consider his religious belief to have some kind of psychological underpinning/explanation, as that would undermine the supposed accuracy of those beliefs.

At least, that's how I understood the question.
"Given religions are made up, what is the psychological explanation for why people tend to be religious?"

 

[PureX]

It seems as though people gravitate towards things that provide them with a sense of belonging and purpose. The structure of religion offers guidelines for how to operate on a daily basis. I think this is part of why we see many people recovering from addiction turn towards religion. My own brother relapsed on multiple occasions after being released from detox programs because he was unable to maintain consistency day to day without the structure of a program. Faith and religion provide him with a foundation to fall back on when things get tough. It seems to reduce the need for personal accountability however. Why evaluate your own behavior and take steps to change when you can leave it up to God?

As someone who has much experience with 12-step recovery, I have to correct that last sentence. As such programs are very strong on taking responsibility for one's actions and not only correcting them, but amending the damage done. Also, 12-step recovery is spiritually based, but not religious. I have seen people asked to leave AA meetings because they wanted to preach a religious recovery message to the group.

 

[The Hammer]

I'ld guess because a believer will not consider his religious belief to have some kind of psychological underpinning/explanation, as that would undermine the supposed accuracy of those beliefs.

At least, that's how I understood the question.
"Given religions are made up, what is the psychological explanation for why people tend to be religious?"

Having any sort of psychological or physiological basis has no impact on my faith or how I view the Gods. It just goes to show how my body interprets and expresses and processes that experience.

 

[Vitality]

As someone who has much experience with 12-step recovery, I have to correct that last sentence. As such programs are very strong on taking responsibility for one's actions and not only correcting them, but amending the damage done. Also, 12-step recovery is spiritually based, but not religious. I have seen people asked to leave AA meetings because they wanted to preach a religious recovery message to the group.

I was speaking generally, not specifically about 12-step programs.

Those programs are in a class all their own. Great for some, not for others. My original point still stands. Regardless of differences in religious, spiritual, or metaphysical perspectives the underlying structure of religion and spiritual practices (and, yes, 12-step programs) seems to provide a basic foundation for people to operate from.

People need structure and guidance. Some get that from faith based or spiritual practices. Some get that from development of critical thinking that allows them to decipher ethical alignment of personal and societal standards that influence decision making.

 

[PureX]

The 12 step programs haven’t worked well for him. He always ended up relapsing. The one that got him clean was an intensive 18 month inpatient treatment program for the homeless centered around Christianity. They helped him get a job and eventually a place to live. He went from being taoist to a Jesus freak. I’m just glad he found something that works for him. He now lives with my mom and is active at her church.

I am very pleased to hear that he found something that helps him. You can disregard my comment about 12-step recovery.

I would mention, though, that in time his 'fervor' may abate. He is an addict, after all, and can easily switch the object of that obsession from one thing to another. And that's OK if it helps him stay clean and sober. But in time, as being sober becomes more normal for him, that hyper-obsessive behavior will likely abate.

 

[PureX]

Having any sort of psychological or physiological basis has no impact on my faith or how I view the Gods. It just goes to show how my body interprets and expresses and processes that experience.

Materialists need to explain EVERYTHING in terms of physical processes. Otherwise their whole worldview unravels. *chuckling*

 

[Sheldon]

Materialists need to explain EVERYTHING in terms of physical processes. Otherwise their whole worldview unravels. *chuckling*

Are you saying you don't believe the material exists?

What objective evidence can you demonstrate for anything beyond the material?

If you have a single "explanation" that does not involve natural phenomena, then I'm wondering why you don't have a Nobel prize?

I think what really unravels is your ego, when your fragile beliefs are not shared by others, who offer rational and cogent alternatives to faith based superstition.

 

[KWED]

Hello. I'm new to this forum and I hope that this topic is in the correct forum. But I have a question particularly for nonbelievers, however, by no means it is a challenge question. Also, believers are free to post in this topic too.

So, what I would like to ask particularly to nonbelievers is: What is your view on the psychology/mechanics of religious belief and what exactly do you think that believers in God are technically believing in in regard to their desire, their love, their adherence to what they believe is God?

And the reason why I ask is because there are various versions of Christianity, which have contradictory and conflicting policies and doctrines, but yet, within these various versions of Christianity, there are people who are sincere and very serious about worshipping God and having a relationship with God. However, for the most part, the people in these various versions of Christianity believe that their way or interpretation of believing and worshipping God is correct while often times believing that Christianity outside of their version of Christianity is incorrect.

And to expound upon these ideas, it seems as if in reality, belief and devotion to God (for many) is believing in the highest principles in your mind that make you feel safe and hopeful about life, along with the highest principles in your mind that produce community and caring and good deeds for others and with others. And of course, this would be in contrast to the darkness and the hopelessness that exists in our world.

So, does anyone have any thoughts about this?

Generally, the mechanics of belief are essentially childhood indoctrination which results in responding to any doubts or challenges through confirmation bias and other forms of cognitive dissonance.
There is not so much a notion of "highest principles", rather a necessary adherence to doctrine - which is why we find religionists at the same time claiming the moral high ground and defending actions like slavery and torture, often rationalised through a kind of Nuremberg Defence ("If god says it's ok, then it must be ok - who am I to argue?")

Sectarianism within a religion is not really any different to differences between religions, it's just a matter of details.

 

[KWED]

Why ask a non-believer what their view of the psychology of religious believers, instead of believers?

Because you are more likely to get an objective view.

Also, you probably won't get a clear answer mostly because people worship Gods for many reasons, there isn't any one singular psychological reason. For some it's community, for others it's reprieve and serenity, and others still do it because it's part of their Cultural upbringing and want to carry that tradition forward.

Those are all secondary. For most it is primarily childhood indoctrination. As Aristotle said..."Give me the boy until seven and I will show you the man".

 

[The Hammer]

Because you are more likely to get an objective view.

Those are all secondary. For most it is primarily childhood indoctrination. As Aristotle said..."Give me the boy until seven and I will show you the man".

Even people not brought up religious will still have religious ideas and forms of magical thinking. It's human nature

 

[PureX]

Very valid point. Definitely something I’m hyper-aware of and not looking forward to maneuvering. He has already began drinking again and doesn’t play in the church band as often as he used to. Not sure if he has been dabbling in harder stuff again. I’m at a point where I am trying to brace myself and accept whatever happens. I’ve overextended myself as-is with trying to help him, my mom, and dad over the years. All I can do now is make sure he knows that he is loved. Sure wish I was rich so I could afford to help more.

The help is there, and it's free. But he has to want it. 12-step recovery doesn't work for people who want someone else to fix them. They gotta be willing to do whatever it takes to save their own life. And they gotta see that it's really that urgent.

In the meantime, be sure to take care of yourself! Live your best life, and don't let him draw you into his addictive insanity. He'll either find a way out of his abyss or he won't. And that's not in your power. It's up to him. But his seeing you staying strong, staying sane, and living a good, happy life, could be a beacon for him. (Even though he may resent and blame you for it while he's 'in his cups'. That's just the insanity of addiction, though.)