Jake Hughes
The Paw Print
In article “Randomness, Attributions of Arousal, and Belief in God” by Aaron C. Kay, David A. Moscovitch, and Kristin Laurin the authors tackle a subject that many dare not touch. The need to believe in a higher being or consciousness has always been a part of human lives and today is no different. Randomness and the correlation it has with arousal in regards to a defining spirit is the theoretical framework for the article. This article attempts to fill a gap in truly testing and understanding randomness and how that affects our outlook spiritually.
According to the article it is difficult to measure a hypothesis regarding randomness – as you would imagine – therefore manipulation of the experiment is required to be as accurate as possible. The article states that “traumatic events can strengthen belief in God because of the threat they pose to nonrandomness, but this correlational research focused only on negative events and assumed (rather than directly assessed) the role of randomness.” Therefore no experiment has truly tested randomness and the arousal of spiritual awareness.
In this study the authors Kay, Moscovitch, and Laurin, are trying to test a theory which determines whether or not thoughts of randomness caused by direct manipulation is able to increase one’s belief in the idea that a supernatural entity is the source of control. To test this they gave an experimental group of participants a pill supposedly containing herbal supplements. Half of the participants were informed that arousal could be a possible side effect. While the other half where none the wiser. Prior studies have shown that the people who were told about the pill having some side effects were more likely to show signs of arousal.
The research methodology used in the experimenters consisted of a questionnaire and a brochure explaining the herbal pill involved as a part of the experiment. Thirty seven undergraduates applied for the experiment. When the participants arrived they received a broacher about the herbal pill. Half read that the pill has no side effects and the other half read that arousal could be a possible side effect. In addition, the students were told orally about the pill.
The students then were given questionnaires while they waited for the supplement to take its course. The participants were then asked to complete a set of unscrambling word tasks. Half of participants received secretly manipulated words that related to randomness. The remaining group had words with negative connotation like “poorly” and “slimy.”
The experiment then followed with further questions. These questions questioned individual’s knowledge of a higher entity and their spiritual beliefs. The questions directly asked if they believed in a high being, or a karma based outlook. These questions were graded on a scale and then averaged. The experimental group is then debriefed on the experiment
I’m not 100 percent on the results section, however, from what I can tell, there seems to be some kind of placebo affect regarding the pill and our unconscious need to want to answer our burning question of a greater being or a governing code.
After reading the article several times and cross referencing it with our directions I believe I managed to dissect the article and get a decent understanding of the subject. Although it took a while to read the article and understand the meaning, I enjoyed reading it.
I believe the strength of this article is the depth and preciseness the authors manage to control throughout the whole piece. After reading the first couple paragraphs repetitively, I believe the authors did a good job in trying to explain such an abstract topic. I truly enjoyed the topic as I think about related issues all the time.
The results were very difficult to understand. I found it particular hard to understand the wording. I believe I go there in the end; however, just reading that one section alone took far too long.
I completely agree with the authors during the discussion section. Our awareness of a higher being, or a governing code plays such a huge part in our lives why is it not studied in regards to out psychological outlook?
Religion controls so many people across the globe that it’s no surprise that it’s such a taboo subject to try and dissect. To imagine that we belief in such abstract entities like god and karma only suppress our distress with randomness is shocking in a way. Yet, I can see why, as human beings we are fearful of what we don’t know.
What’s Been Said…