Thursday, August 30, 2007
Talking Your Way Into Heaven
Now here is an interesting study done at the University of British Columbia, which will be published in the September issue of Psychological Science journal:According to one of the participants, Azim Shariff:... 125 participants were asked to unscramble sentences. After the task, they were given $10 and had to decide what to keep and what to give away to a stranger..
Sixty-eight per cent of those who unscrambled sentences with religious words gave about half the money away. Meanwhile, most members of the control group who worked on non-religious sentences kept nearly all the money.
"I was quite surprised that something that subtle would have this big of an impact," said Shariff, 26. "This is a twist on an age old question -- does a belief in God influence moral behaviour?" ...Now, you know how everybody says PZ Myers, despite his ferocious reputation in the blogosphere, is really mild mannered and positively gracious in person? Who do you know who talks more about religion and God than him?
"I thought there would be some effect," said Shariff. "I didn't think it would be double."
Just wondering ...
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