Religion
Related: About this forumThe psychology behind religious belief
Researcher says religion fulfills 16 basic human desires
By: Jeff Grabmeier
Published on October 05, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio Throughout history, scholars and researchers have tried to identify the one key reason that people are attracted to religion.
Some have said people seek religion to cope with a fear of death, others call it the basis for morality, and various other theories abound.
But in a new book, a psychologist who has studied human motivation for more than 20 years suggests that all these theories are too narrow. Religion, he says, attracts followers because it satisfies all of the 16 basic desires that humans share.
Its not just about fear of death. Religion couldnt achieve mass acceptance if it only fulfilled one or two basic desires, said Steven Reiss, a professor emeritus of psychology at The Ohio State University and author of The 16 Strivings for God (Mercer University Press, 2016).
https://news.osu.edu/news/2015/10/05/the-psychology-behind-religious-belief/
http://www.mupress.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=980
3catwoman3
(23,947 posts)...of eating and physical activity? Who knew?
This might be a book worth reading.
rug
(82,333 posts)edhopper
(33,479 posts)Who don't want a scientific explanation.
rug
(82,333 posts)edhopper
(33,479 posts)I like a scientific explanation for most things
rug
(82,333 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,268 posts)that's a lot of eating. And getting your mouth around something omnipresent should be a pretty good workout, too.
rug
(82,333 posts)And an even poorer joke.
The latter is more grievous.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,268 posts)3catwoman3
(23,947 posts)...hot-dish-to-pass church basement suppers in Lake Woebegone.
Jim__
(14,063 posts)For instance:
Salvation and promises of an afterlife seem to tap into stronger desires than acceptance and tranquility. I can see how they touch those desires; but fear of death seems to be elemental in people. I wonder if his book acknowledges that there is something more, something stronger than tranquility, to the promise of an afterlife.
rug
(82,333 posts)That belief in the afterlife is the common solution to the reality of death. A species of survivor instinct.
But I haven't read it either.