Religion and Biology

Question 1

Why is religion natural?

Answer 1

 Religion is naturally-built into humans

 We are created to be religious

Question 2

What does the brain have a central role in?

Answer 2

 the origins of religion
 the development of religion
 religious belief, experience, and behavior

Question 3

Religion has been placed in what kind of context?

Answer 3

Cognitive

Question 4

Neurobiology of religion is also the neurobiology of?

Answer 4

	Beliefs and values
	Meditation
	Paranormal phenomena 
	Consciousness 
	Morality 
	Spirituality
	Religious belief
	Religious experience

Question 5

Neurobiological research aims to identify ______ _______ in the brain that underlie these experiences

Answer 5

Neural circuits

Question 6

Who found that stimulation of the parietal & temporal lobes created the experience of God?

Answer 6

Persinger

Question 7

Which lobes contain the “God spot?”

Answer 7

Parietal & temporal

Question 8

Who criticized Persinger (2)? What were their thoughts?

Answer 8

 D’Aquili (1978) – found the parietal lobe on non-dominant side of brain is involved in deity perceptions

 Azari (2006) – found the prefrontal cortex (part of frontal lobe) also plays important role in religious experience

Question 9

What is central to religion?

Answer 9

Ritual and ceremony

Question 10

What are ritual and ceremony also referred to?

Answer 10

Religion in action

Question 11

Are there any biological benefits to religious ritual?

Answer 11

Yes
 Because rituals allow people opportunities to:
 Gain pleasure/comfort from playing ritual roles
 Develop a sense of mastery
 Reduce anxiety and uncertainty
 Increase social integration & develop community
 Alleviate suffering
 Transform illness into health
 Bring supernatural forces to the aid of the afflicted

Question 12

What are the basic purposes of rituals?

Answer 12

▪ Ritual connects people to each other
▪ Ritual connects people to their inner desires, feelings
▪ Ritual connects people to their God

Question 13

According to Benson what practice can be trans-formative?

Answer 13

 Slowed breathing can Transform Your Health

Question 14

Research shows that faith can lower?

Answer 14

Anxiety, blood pressure, depression

Question 15

What can prayer do physiologically according to Benson?

Answer 15

Induces relaxation and results in decreased heart rate, rate of breathing, and slower brain waves

Question 16

Koenig’s study in older adults found

Answer 16

Prayer appeared to reduce negative emotional expressions under stress

Question 17

Ai’s study in patients undergoing heart bypass found

Answer 17

That those who prayed showed better post-operative emotional health

Question 18

Benson believed

Answer 18

• Belief in God and practice of religion have aided humans to survive and reproduce
• It is hard wired in us

Question 19

Who has shown that have shown that personal religiousness and a sense of forgiveness go together?

Answer 19

Gorsuch and Hao (1993)

Question 20

Forgiveness is a religious ideal. T/F

Answer 20

True

Question 21

Research shows that forgiveness can

Answer 21

 Counters hostility
 Lowers blood pressure
 Lowers depression
 Lowers “subjective feelings” (personal experience) of stress
 Reduces “objective signs” of stress
 Contributes desirable effects in brain reactions

Question 22

Unforgiveness is related to?

Answer 22

hostility

Question 23

What physiological response can hostility have according to Baum, Singer & Sarafino?

Answer 23

Unhealthy cardiovascular reactions

Question 24

Much research has been done on religion. T/F

Answer 24

False