Comments on: Religion As a source for research ideas

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 00:22:17 +0000

I found this chapter in “Irrational” very intriguing and I think there is a larger truth at work here in our culture -
As we “drift” further and further from our Judeo-Christian roots (no apologies for those who don’t belive this, but there’s no denying our history)and moral benchmarks, we should expect to experience more Enron and Madoff-type issues down the road.
Maybe this is the inevitable path of a post-modern culture?
But I think Dan recognizes a very significant point that we need to address this otherwise we pay some serious consequences for the order of law which we all take for granted now. Issues like property rights, a messed up court system, etc., that will be whittled away, almost without us recognizing it…

By: Linda

Linda — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:41:52 +0000

When I read the chapter discussing cheating and the effect that recalling the 10 commandments had on the cheating rates I was bit concerned that it would add unwarranted strength to the idea that religion is or should be the primary source of our moral understanding or moral code and therefore it had a real and legitimate place in all our lives. But what is a bit over shadowed in the discussion is the idea that a professional code could and does have a similar effect on the cheating rates thereby forcing religion off of its all powerful throne. No doubt religion is a fertile place for behavioral research and loaded with examples of human behavior good, bad, and ugly but for me the most important thing to remember about religion is that it is in essence a power struggle where the church or leaders want their flock to follow them and submit to that power. Oftentimes women are seen or viewed as secondary and must be kept in their place. Any disruption in the order could lead to cracks or crumbling of the overall foundation and harm the ability of the leaders to exercise their power. Objectors and objections must be dealt with quickly, usually by invoking the “word of god” which simply and solidly implies that is the end of the story. Religion is ultimately about getting power, keeping power, and exerting that power on others. Although religion is rife with power struggles and the intense belief systems to keep the powerful on top those same struggles can be found in most all corporations and business dealings. Therefore I don’t see religion as having a unique view of behavior but I do see religion as having a very long history of exploiting humans because of their nature. Any research focusing on religion needs to also focus on how and why that exploitation has been allowed to continue and how easily such a system is forgiven in the name of god.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:01:53 +0000

Yes, I perfectly agree with what Prof. Ariely says about the religion and some moral benchmark to keep in mind. Actually what we forget is that people ( here I refer to judéo-christian scriptural tradition) from centuries observed human nature and concentrated this wisdom in books ; just take the example of Qoelet or the lettres of St. Paul – in spite of the difference in the style of these 2 writings I can found in both a deep understanding of human nature, based on a spiritual experience. Spiriutal writings as for example that of the fathers of desert and Philocalia (orthdox christian tradition) spoke about attentiveness in greek nepsis – it is a mental attitutde allowing a person to be conscient about herself – a kind of continuum cognitive self-reminderTEN Commandments – and yes this kind of reminder has impact on daily life behaviour, can even change some trait of character if this owrk on oneself is did it under the supervision of a spiritual father. The biblic anthropology is telling us a lot of truths about human nature, but we refuse to accept it and to be wise&happy, we prefer to be irrationnaly and to complain or to excuse ourselves or more often to accuse the others(including God). I deeply believe that if each of us would take himself seriously, every day life moment would be a wonderful experience and we would become a littel bit less irrational, more wise and consicent about what’s really happing woth us and arround us.

And for those who confond religion or God, and spiritual life with the unworthy religious leaders – it is a methodological mistake to identify them it, it suggests to me that people doing this mistake never experienced a religious feeling.

Rationally yours,
Nicole

sorry for my english mistakes

By: Nils

Nils — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:17:04 +0000

Bullshit as a source for research ideas?!

By: ella

ella — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:24:08 +0000

Thanks for your sharing.so wonderful!wish you have a lovely day and Happy New Year.
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By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 22:21:53 +0000

Deuteronomy 6:4-12

By: Why Do Little Things Matter? | Blend: Human Driven Design

Why Do Little Things Matter? | Blend: Human Driven Design — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:11:20 +0000

[...] with priming (some of which can be found in his latest book, Predictably Irrational). In one experiment, he primed subjects with the Ten Commandments before giving them a test and then an opportunity to [...]

By: James

James — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:33:03 +0000

Correct link (above).

By: James

James — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:31:47 +0000

Dan, do you think or have you seen such a marked effect in other behavioral areas? For example, if you prime subjects with 10 keywords or concepts related to passivity (let’s say) and then give them every opportunity to argue… what would we see?

I think we may see similar results. Not to discredit anything… my point would be that priming may be a means of effecting all shorts of behaviors (this could be used for both manipulative and positive action). Your thoughts?

By: Vesall

Vesall — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:34:51 +0000

Might I suggest the following reading with regards to the role of science and religion in the development discourse:

http://www.globalprosperity.org/initial_considerations.html?SID=4