Comments on: Religion: The best placebo? http://www.centertao.org/blog/2009/03/13/religion-the-best-placebo/ taoism, taoist thought, buddha, yoga, tai chi, shakuhachi, Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:38:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: carl http://www.centertao.org/blog/2009/03/13/religion-the-best-placebo/comment-page-1/#comment-222 carl Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:43:13 +0000 http://www.centertao.org/?p=2336#comment-222 Hey Neighbor, I wonder whether expectations are really Pavlovian, especially as it relates to religion. Pavlovian is more about a dog's (or human's) response to stimuli. The placebo effect of religion doesn't hinge on this, unless you regard our constant life long underlying sense of 'weirdness' to be the stimuli. Religion steadies that sense of 'weirdness', at least somewhat through ideals / expectations which the belief embodies. It is all subconscious. Biology hoodwinks us into behaviors; we are mostly unaware of the biological strings pulling us to and fro. In other words, life feels 'real'. To be sure, the Pavlovian and Skinnerian conditioning may play superficial roles in this. I suppose the "new here" lies in the role language and thought play in this. Hey Neighbor,

I wonder whether expectations are really Pavlovian, especially as it relates to religion. Pavlovian is more about a dog’s (or human’s) response to stimuli. The placebo effect of religion doesn’t hinge on this, unless you regard our constant life long underlying sense of ‘weirdness’ to be the stimuli. Religion steadies that sense of ‘weirdness’, at least somewhat through ideals / expectations which the belief embodies.

It is all subconscious. Biology hoodwinks us into behaviors; we are mostly unaware of the biological strings pulling us to and fro. In other words, life feels ‘real’.

To be sure, the Pavlovian and Skinnerian conditioning may play superficial roles in this. I suppose the “new here” lies in the role language and thought play in this.

]]> By: Neighbor Andy http://www.centertao.org/blog/2009/03/13/religion-the-best-placebo/comment-page-1/#comment-221 Neighbor Andy Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:31:25 +0000 http://www.centertao.org/?p=2336#comment-221 1. Brain imaging mostly tells us what we already know for other reasons. 2. The connections you make between religion and expectation and placebo and etc. are classical (Pavlovian) conditioning with a little operant (Skinnerian) conditioning thrown in. 3. These connections can be subconscious. 4. What's new here? 1. Brain imaging mostly tells us what we already know for other reasons.

2. The connections you make between religion and expectation and placebo and etc. are classical (Pavlovian) conditioning with a little operant (Skinnerian) conditioning thrown in.

3. These connections can be subconscious.

4. What’s new here?

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