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July 2022

July 05, 2022

Why Rites of Passage Are Painful

At the podcast "How God Works," I discuss the worldwide phenomenon of painful adolescent rites...

January 2020

January 15, 2020

Extreme Rituals and Health: A Surprising Match

With the possible exception of scrolling through Twitter, it’s hard to imagine an activity less...

June 2018

June 20, 2018

A Cognitive (and Social) View of Ritual

Imagine two scenes. In the first, a person chucks a book casually on a table,...

January 2018

January 11, 2018

Why meaning is more important for humans than comfort

Religion does many things. It can form bonds between people, foment conflicts, and inspire people...

April 2017

April 11, 2017

Cool new research in religion

If you ever want to get seriously frustrated, I suggest getting advanced graduate training in...

August 2016

August 04, 2016

Religion builds self-control and excludes outsiders – simultaneously

A new model suggests that religion may benefit mental health by building adherents' self-control. The...

April 2015

April 01, 2015

Is belief in heaven good for you? No. Yes. Maybe.

Belief in hell is good for society – it frightens people into shaping up, toeing...

February 2015

February 18, 2015

Is willpower really a finite resource?

Publication bias is rampant in psychology. Has it led us astray with one of the...

October 2014

October 02, 2014

Sex, the cuddle chemical, and religion

Kate Stockly-Myerdirk Last week, Connor wrote about sex differences here. I happen to research one...

September 2014

September 15, 2014

Want a meaningful life? Stay away from rich countries

Countries with higher gross domestic products have higher suicide rates and less self-reported meaning in...

September 09, 2014

Entheogens may expand possible brain interconnections

By releasing the everyday patterns of stable, internal coherence between different regions of the brain,...

May 2013

May 14, 2013

Earn $63,628 worth of happiness: pray

Timothy Tyler Brown (University of California, Berkeley) investigated the value happiness prayer yields for the...

April 2013

April 03, 2013

Forgiveness and health: It’s complicated

Researcher Michael McFarland (University of Texas at Austin) and colleagues found that forgiveness positively correlates...

February 2013

February 08, 2013

Does suffering drive us to religion? Yep.

A nationwide values survey in New Zealand captures fascinating changes in New Zealanders' religiosity after...

October 2012

October 30, 2012

Forgiveness may affect longevity, health

A new research paper in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine shows that attaching conditions to...

September 2012

September 07, 2012

AAP: Health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh risks

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has updated their position on circumcision, concluding that it...

July 2012

July 16, 2012

The religious may fare better when the going gets tough

New research from Butler University correlates religious practice with greater stores of self-regulation, suggesting that...

July 06, 2012

Traditional religion: investing in families, genetically

Religions can be profoundly sexually repressive. Why is this? New research from Mali offers a...

June 2012

June 04, 2012

Parasites may have shaped religion’s evolution

Why does religion seem to do so much good for its adherents, but divide societies...

May 2012

May 30, 2012

Religion, health, and personality

Jonathan Morgan Each month new studies emerge about how religious belief affects well-being: belief in...

March 2012

March 18, 2012

Gamma waves help meditation change the brain

Connor Wood Long-term meditators know that meditation can change people’s experience of the world, usually...

February 2012

February 29, 2012

Medicine and religion – Part II

Connor Wood In December 2011, the Journal of Behavioral Medicine dedicated an entire issue to...

February 27, 2012

Medicine and religion, Part I

Connor Wood Recently, researchers have gotten serious about studying the effects of religion on health....