Scientists establish link between religious fundamentalism and brain damage
A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia has shown that religious fundamentalism is, in part, the result of a functional impairment in a brain region known as the prefrontal cortex. The findings suggest that damage to particular areas of the prefrontal cortex indirectly promotes religious fundamentalism by diminishing cognitive flexibility and opennessa psychology term that describes a personality trait which involves dimensions like curiosity, creativity, and open-mindedness.
Religious beliefs can be thought of as socially transmitted mental representations that consist of supernatural events and entities assumed to be real. Religious beliefs differ from empirical beliefs, which are based on how the world appears to be and are updated as new evidence accumulates or when new theories with better predictive power emerge. On the other hand, religious beliefs are not usually updated in response to new evidence or scientific explanations, and are therefore strongly associated with conservatism. They are fixed and rigid, which helps promote predictability and coherence to the rules of society among individuals within the group.
Religious fundamentalism refers to an ideology that emphasizes traditional religious texts and rituals and discourages progressive thinking about religion and social issues. Fundamentalist groups generally oppose anything that questions or challenges their beliefs or way of life. For this reason, they are often aggressive towards anyone who does not share their specific set of supernatural beliefs, and towards science, as these things are seen as existential threats to their entire worldview.
Since religious beliefs play a massive role in driving and influencing human behavior throughout the world, it is important to understand the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism from a psychological and neurological perspective. To investigate the cognitive and neural systems involved in religious fundamentalism, a team of researchersled by Jordan Grafman of Northwestern Universityconducted a study that utilized data from Vietnam War veterans that had been gathered previously. The vets were specifically chosen because a large number of them had damage to brain areas suspected of playing a critical role in functions related to religious fundamentalism. CT scans were analyzed comparing 119 vets with brain trauma to 30 healthy vets with no damage, and a survey that assessed religious fundamentalism was administered. While the majority of participants were Christians of some kind, 32.5% did not specify a particular religion.
Read more: https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/scientists-establish-link-between-religious-fundamentalism-and-brain-damage/
intrepidity
(7,339 posts)no comment
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)Moostache
(9,897 posts)There are differences between a searching, flexible spirituality and a dogmatic, rigid and inflexible fundamentalist approach to religion. One attempts to use the best of the tenets and practices of a given tradition and the other seeks to strangle anyone with the temerity to challenge orthodoxy.
If humanity is to evolve and survive, an absolute must is a maturing of the species' perception and understanding of the world to shake off the explanations and myths of our past in favor of a deeper, many times more nuanced understanding of reality.
For one small example - prayer. Prayer is self-talk. Self-talk can and does have psychological benefits, but not because a supernatural sky daddy received a telepathic message, compared its requested outcome against the existing divine cosmic plan; and upon further consideration, decided to alter and revise said original plan to accommodate the petitions of many billions of people on a constant basis.
Logically, there can be a "divine plan" or there can be "intercessional prayer", but not both. If prayer can influence the divine will, then the divine plan is more of a rough draft pending edits than an actual blueprint - BUT...if there really IS a plan, it can't be changed so that Susie can get an "A" in math instead of the deserved "C" that her actual efforts and skills would earn by divination in the first place.
Conservative or Liberal, reformed or fundamentalist, Northern Baptist conference of 1872 or Northern Baptist conference of 1865....none of it really matters in the end. ALL supernatural beliefs are by definition outside of and beyond observable reality. They should have ZERO influence of credibility in the day-to-day affairs of homo sapiens and the exact same lack of input on decisions of state or science. Giving undue influence and veto vote to the mystical claims based on several thousand year old goat-herder myths and ideas is holding back the species.
Shake off the night-terrors of the species' infancy and the scary time on the savannahs instead of the jungle canopy. Only when we advance beyond our inherent and evolutionary greed and fears can we learn the path to true advancement. Allowing people to champion the stern sky-daddy hypothesis of eternal spying and disapproval of who puts what private part where, when and with whom is lunacy.
IjustDontlikeRepugs
(639 posts)RKP5637
(67,112 posts)milestogo
(16,829 posts)The description fits, but it doesn't really explain causality.
BWdem4life
(1,701 posts)Probatim
(2,543 posts)Thomas Hurt
(13,903 posts)SWBTATTReg
(22,174 posts)unweird
(2,554 posts)
well fit right in with the conservative religious nut jobs.
Nahh, Ill stay unweird.
Faux pas
(14,695 posts)Kickin to read later
mopinko
(70,261 posts)Racygrandma
(109 posts)She is epileptic and definitely not religious. Her daughter, my granddaughter was going to a Penticostal church and she called me being very worried. Nope, very worried.
mopinko
(70,261 posts)but i outgrew my seizures.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)but I don't know if that has anything to do with the brain damage issue.
mopinko
(70,261 posts)both my and my youngest child's seizure were caused by head injuries.
Racygrandma
(109 posts)He said if it happens during sleep or early in the morning then it is genetic
mopinko
(70,261 posts)file under- shit i wish i hadnt had to learn.
Racygrandma
(109 posts)We had what they called an "inland hurricane", lights of course went out. We were hunkered down in the basement and she fell down the stairs. Called 911 they said "STAY HOME", so we did. Sun came up and trees down everywhere, no driving down that road. He got out later in the day to emergency. She never passed out or anything.
mopinko
(70,261 posts)i only realized that the hallucinations i'd had for a decade were seizures from having my head bashed badly, accidentally, when my youngest got the same dx. she saw ppl following her out of the corner of her eye. tests said ptsd til she started having gran mal seizures.
localized to where her skull got cracked and we didnt know.
Farmer-Rick
(10,216 posts)"The data suggests that damage to the vmPFC indirectly promotes religious fundamentalism by suppressing both cognitive flexibility and openness.
These findings are important because they suggest that impaired functioning in the prefrontal cortexwhether from brain trauma, a psychological disorder, a drug or alcohol addiction, or simply a particular genetic profilecan make an individual susceptible to religious fundamentalism. And perhaps in other cases, extreme religious indoctrination harms the development or proper functioning of the prefrontal regions in a way that hinders cognitive flexibility and openness."
Religious indoctrination can harm the prefrontal regions.
Doodley
(9,142 posts)the brain never developed normally in the first place. "Damage" suggest an impairment to something that was correctly functioning.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)but that can't be the case for such a large portion of the population or it would there would be medical evidence.
mjvpi
(1,389 posts)JoeOtterbein
(7,702 posts)Great article!
3Hotdogs
(12,435 posts)God knows everything. God is perfect, so that plan He had for the universe must also be perfect. Now, if we convince Sky Daddy to change the perfect plan He had, then we are to accept that His plan was not perfect after all. Next, we gotta consider that He knew what was gonna happen and there was no need for the interventional prayer, since He wasn't gonna stick with Plan A in the first place.
Then, we don't need Pastor Gotz, since it has already been decided if your ass is gonna roast or play the harp.
The only reason for me to fear Hell, is because my neighbors are going to be Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Ralph Reed, Jimmy Swaggart and on and on.