Do away with anger and rage with a small prayer………



A new study indicates that saying a prayer makes people less angry and aggressive in behaviour


A series of studies showed that people who were provoked by insulting comments from a stranger showed less anger and aggression soon afterwards if they prayed for another person in the meantime.
A recent study at Ohio State University. Research shows that prayer can help people cope better   with their anger and feel less aggressive towards the aggressor.

According to Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University., “The benefits of prayer identified in this study don't rely on divine intervention: they probably occur because the act of praying changed the way people think about a negative situation.

He said that people often turn to prayer when they're feeling negative emotions, including anger and they found that prayer really could help people cope with their anger, probably by helping them change how they viewed  the events that angered them and helping them take it less personally.

Results indicated that prayer helped calm people regardless of their religious affiliation, or how often they attended church services or prayed in daily life.
The entire project consisted of 3 separate studies.

There were a total of 53 US. College students in the first study.First, they completed a questionnaire that measured their levels of anger, fatigue, depression, vigor, and tension.

They were then asked to write an essay about an event that made them feel very angry. Later on, they were told that the essay would be given to a partner, whom they would never meet, for evaluation.
Actually, there was no partner and all the participants received the same negative, anger-inducing evaluation that included the statement: "This is one of the worst essays I have ever read!"

After making the participants angry, the researchers had the students participate in the second "study" in which they read a newspaper story about a student named Maureen with a rare form of cancer. Participants were asked to imagine how Maureen feels about what happened and how it affected her life.
Then, the participants were randomly assigned to either pray for Maureen for five minutes, or to simply think about her.

Afterwards, the researchers again measured the students' levels of anger, fatigue, depression, vigor and tension. As expected, self-reported levels of anger were higher among the participants after they were provoked. But those who prayed for Maureen reported being significantly less angry than those who simply thought about her.
Prayer did not show any effect on the other emotions measured in the study.

Following this 2 more studies were carried out to study the effect of pray in anger and aggressive behaviour. Though all 3 studies approached the issue in different ways, they all pointed to the personal benefits of prayer.


Image Credit :Leonard John Matthews

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Changing Brains :The nature of change in our aging

Image
As we get older, our cognitive abilities change, improving when we're younger and declining as we age. Scientists posit a hierarchical structure within which these abilities are organized. There's the "lowest" level -- measured by specific tests, such as story memory or word memory; the second level, which groups various skills involved in a category of cognitive ability, such as memory, perceptual speed, or reasoning; and finally, the "general," or G, factor, a sort of statistical aggregate of all the thinking abilities. What happens to this structure as we age? That was the question Timothy A. Salthouse, Brown-Forman professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, investigated in a new study appearing in an upcoming issue of  Psychological Science , a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. His findings advance psychologists' understanding of the complexities of the aging brain. "There are three hypotheses about how ...
Read more

Don't worry, be happy – understanding mindfulness meditation

Image
In times of stress, we're often encouraged to pause for a moment and simply be in the 'now.' This kind of mindfulness, an essential part of Buddhist and Indian Yoga traditions, has entered the mainstream as people try to find ways to combat stress and improve their quality of life. And research suggests that mindfulness meditation can have benefits for health and performance, including improved immune function, reduced blood pressure, and enhanced cognitive function. But how is it that a single practice can have such wide-ranging effects on well-being? A new article published in the latest issue of  Perspectives on Psychological Science , a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, draws on the existing scientific literature to build a framework that can explain these positive effects. The goal of this work, according to author Britta Hölzel, of Justus Liebig University and Harvard Medical School, is to "unveil the conceptual and mechanistic complexity o...
Read more

Modelling emotions: A potential new therapy for disturbed teenagers

Image
Researchers at The University of Nottingham are to investigate whether the therapeutic effects of clay modelling could help disturbed teenagers deal with their feelings of anger, anxiety and depression. Academics are teaming up with professionals in the NHS, Nottingham Contemporary art gallery and local artists for the innovative project that will look at the potential benefits that clay could offer to young people struggling with mental health problems. Dr Gary Winship, of the University's School of Education, part of the project team, said: "With its qualities of cold resistance and suitability for moulding, we believe creative play through clay could be an exciting alternative therapy for young people suffering from a range of mental health vulnerabilities. "Anecdotally, it may offer potential therapeutic effects through the cathartic venting of emotions through banging, squashing, bending or breaking the clay." The £25,000, one-year project will focus on young ...
Read more