DiscussMormonism.com

I think many of the non-believers would agree with this study and believers may get offended, but I don't think it's offensive. In fact, the article says we all use reflective and intuitive reasoning, and both are useful. The intuitive reasoning reminds me a lot of my wife's family. They tend to go with their first gut instinct when making decisions and call it the holy ghost.


http://news.yahoo.com/belief-god-boils- ... 03461.html

Belief in God Boils Down to a Gut Feeling

For many people, believing in God comes down to a gut feeling that a benevolent deity is out there. A study now finds that gut feelings may be very important in determining who goes to church every Sunday and who avoids the pews.

People who are generally more intuitive in the way they think and make decisions are more likely to believe in God than those who ruminate over their choices, the researchers found. The findings suggest that basic differences in thinking style can influence religious belief.

"Some say we believe in God because our intuitions about how and why things happen lead us to see a divine purpose behind ordinary events that don't have obvious human causes," study researcher Amitai Shenhav of Harvard University said in a statement. "This led us to ask whether the strength of an individual's beliefs is influenced by how much they trust their natural intuitions versus stopping to reflect on those first instincts."

Shenhav and his colleagues investigated that question in a series of studies. In the first, 882 American adults answered online surveys about their belief in God. Next, the participants took a three-question math test with questions such as, "A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?"

The intuitive answer to that question is 10 cents, since most people's first impulse is to knock $1 off the total. But people who use "reflective" reasoning to question their first impulse are more likely to get the correct answer: 5 cents.

Sure enough, people who went with their intuition on the math test were found to be one-and-a-half times more likely to believe in God than those who got all the answers right. The results held even when taking factors such as education and income into account.

In a second study, 373 participants were told to write a paragraph about either successfully using their intuition or successfully reasoning their way to an answer. Those who wrote about the intuitive experience were more likely to say they were convinced of God's existence after the experiment, suggesting that triggering intuitive thinking boosts belief.

The researchers plan to investigate how genes and education influence thinking styles, but they're quick to note that neither intuition nor reflection is inherently superior.

"It's not that one way is better than the other," study researcher David Rand of Harvard said in a statement. "Intuitions are important and reflection is important, and you want some balance of the two. Where you are on that spectrum affects how you come out in terms of belief in God."

The research was published Sept. 19 online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

DarkHelmet wrote:http://news.yahoo.com/belief-god-boils-down-gut-feeling-104403461.html

Belief in God Boils Down to a Gut Feeling

For many people, believing in God comes down to a gut feeling that a benevolent deity is out there. A study now finds that gut feelings may be very important in determining who goes to church every Sunday and who avoids the pews.

People who are generally more intuitive in the way they think and make decisions are more likely to believe in God than those who ruminate over their choices, the researchers found.

* * * * *

The research was published Sept. 19 online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

This suggests that those that more quickly make a decision are more likely to believe in god than those that are more contemplative and deliberate. This might be the very characteristic that makes 'Moroni's promise' work for believers. They come to a quick decision based on gut reaction, talk to themselves about it (prayer), and feel good about their quick decision. Through talking to themselves about it, they reinforce their own belief in the correctness of the decision they've already made. Voila, a testimony is born, and a mind is closed.

On the other hand, those who identify and examine the distracting elements and consider them continue undecided--which is what the Mormon scripture calls a stupor of thought (which I merely interpret to mean, you haven't made a clear cut decision and yet consider the arguments both pro and con). Such contemplation rather than the comparably hasty, declarative decision is the hallmark of one for which this 'promise' does not work.

The best, most enduring scripture is that which recognizes basic principles of human psychology and makes an appeal to certain types of personalities. JSJr was quite charismatic, and quite adept at using tools of interpersonal persuasion, such has getting landowners to pay him to divine where underground treasures were hidden, despite the fact that when a dig at his identified spots would not yield treasure he would dismiss it as evil spirits moving the treasure underground as they were digging. Brilliant. That makes the landowner believe that JSJr did the work (and thus should get paid) and the property owner want to avoid digging further, since it might trigger evil spirits again. In authoring "Moroni's promise", JSJr just adeptly tapped into how human psychology works, and crafted a 'promise' that would work for those that would make quicker rather than more deliberate decisions. If starting a religious movement and wanting devoted followers, it is elemental that you'd prefer those that make a quick, hasty decision and then hold fast to it later than wanting doubting Thomases (which JSJr would have to excommunicate rather than allow to possibly poison the well of his blind followers).

DarkHelmet wrote: The intuitive reasoning reminds me a lot of my wife's family. They tend to go with their first gut instinct when making decisions and call it the holy ghost.

Yup, that used to be me when I was a believer.

Well, that certainly makes sense to me. I've been conditioned to think carefully about my answers before giving them for several reasons, not the least of which are a few experiences as a kid getting fooled by trick questions, like the following:

Some tricky bastard child: "Say 'boast' five times fast..."

Me: "Boast, boast, boast, boast, boast..."

Some tricky bastard child: "What do you put in a toaster?"

Me: "Toast."

Some tricky bastard child: "Really? I always put in bread..."

You get fooled by that sort of thing a few times (especially as a kid), you start to think about your answers more carefully. Well... that's what happened with me, anyway.

Some Schmo wrote:Well, that certainly makes sense to me. I've been conditioned to think carefully about my answers before giving them for several reasons, not the least of which are a few experiences as a kid getting fooled by trick questions, like the following:

Some tricky bastard child: "Say 'boast' five times fast..."

Me: "Boast, boast, boast, boast, boast..."

Some tricky bastard child: "What do you put in a toaster?"

Me: "Toast."

Some tricky bastard child: "Really? I always put in bread..."

You get fooled by that sort of thing a few times (especially as a kid), you start to think about your answers more carefully. Well... that's what happened with me, anyway.

LOL. The sad thing is I fall for those tricks as an adult from my own little bastard kids. "Hey dad. Say boast 5 times."

I'd love to hear a response from someone who believes in God.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?