Facing Adversity, Some Find Solace in Science
New research suggests that, for some secular people, a belief in science plays a similar psychological role as faith does for religious people.
May 30, 2013 • By Tom Jacobs
When feeling stress, or faced with existential angst, there are benefits to being a believer. A comprehensive way of making sense of the world, and our place in it, can provide consolation when it’s needed most.
For many people, of course, that belief system is religious faith. But new research suggests others have found a different source of solace: science.
“Our findings suggest that belief in science may help non-religious people deal with adverse conditions,” reports a research team led by University of Oxford psychologist Miguel Farias. “Despite their different methods, both science and religion offer powerful explanations of the world,” the researchers write in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, “which may work at an intuitive level to provide comfort and assurance.”
As Farias and his colleagues note, many studies have shown the psychological benefits of religious faith, while others suggest that such secular belief systems as humanism, or even faith in human progress, can play a similar role as a source of meaning and motivation.
http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/stressful-times-turn-to-science-58781/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103113001042
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Oh, and science, too. 
And science. I used to love spending hours solving calculus problems as well.
There is something very soothing to me about totally preoccupying my "left brain".
How have you been longship? Good to see you.
And it's one of the few opportunities in my life to get the right answer.
