Addressing existential and spiritual questions a person may have positive implications for inner peace and overall health.
The relationship between religion, attitudes toward race, and abortion rights have grown stronger in recent years. Researchers found those who exhibit high racial resentment are more inclined to espouse anti-choice attitudes, regardless of a person's religious views or political beliefs. For example, religious conservatives with low racial resentment are more likely to be pro-choice than their peers who exhibit higher racial resentment. The same is true for religious liberals with low racial resentment.
Spirituality can have a positive impact when it comes to both general and serious illness, researchers say. Incorporating spirituality into health care for those who are spiritual could be beneficial when it comes to health outcomes.
A review of 71 studies over 40 years aligns with the hypothesis that belief in the paranormal is associated with differences and deficits in cognitive function.
People who consider themselves more accountable to a god report higher levels of three of the four variables of psychological wellbeing. The association was stronger in people who pray more often, suggesting accountability accompanied with prayer enhances psychological wellbeing for believers.
Researchers report religious people who relate to a God in an uncertain or anxious manner are more likely to experience psychological distress disorders, including anxiety, paranoia, and obsessive compulsions. Findings reveal how different styles of attachment to a deity may be associated with poorer mental health outcomes.
Researchers report that extreme behaviors exhibited by "true believers" of a religion or belief system are driven by the degree to which their identity fuses with a cause or belief. The findings could help in the fight against radicalization.
"Orgasmic meditation" produces a distinct pattern of brain activity, researchers report. The practice alters activity in the frontal lobe and temporal lobe, an area of the brain associated with emotional processing.
Researchers find a region of the brain stem called the periaqueductal gray may mediate religiosity and spirituality in humans.
A new study has identified a specific brain circuit centered in the periaqueductal gray that is linked to spiritual acceptance and religiosity.
Kirtan Kriya, a simple meditation practice that centers on psychological and spiritual wellbeing, may help to reduce some Alzheimer's related risk factors and improve cognition in older adults.
Atheists are more likely to believe the morality of an action is based on its consequences, while theists are more inclined to endorse moral values that promote group cohesion. Both believers and non-believers share moral values related to protecting vulnerable individuals and liberty versus oppression, a new study concludes.
