Do you think superstitious people are more likely to develop phobias ?
Yes, i believe they are.
No, i don’t think so.
I know from experience they are.
I know from experience they aren’t.
I’m not sure, i’d like to see the results of your research.
0voters
I’ve just watched a short program on National Geographic on phobias and i was wondering if being irrational/religious or rational/secular has anything to do with phobias.
Phobias are regarded by psychiatrist as an illness. If there’s a correlation between having a phobia and being irrational i think i might be on to something.
The closest i come to having a phobia is rats/mice; i’m not affraid of them, only disgusted.
I know that because i used to have 2 hamsters and because they we’re clean i was ok with holding them in my hands, even kissing them (i was young). My father used to laugh at me for the fact that i could kiss a hamster but i hated mice/rats.
Now, the best way to do research on the matter is ask the people who have phobias if they are religious or not, if they are superstitious and if they believe in the supernatural. I’m still trying to figure out how to get it started. Where do i find people with phobias ? I’m going to go the hospitals in my city and ask psychiatrists/psychologists if they can give me some statistics on the matter.
Also i will infiltrate a couple of forums online creating polls in 2 religious forums and 2 atheist/secular forums.
Also, probably alot more relevant will be if i post such a poll on a forum about phobias and ask people what their religious belief is, if any. I will try to do this aswell.
Any sugestions ?
…i feel that rationality would have the power to eventually shake of phobias (we know phobias are partially treatable as it is) or at least phobias would have a hard time invading a rational mind.
Ofcourse some of you might have a problem with the fact that i call “belief in superstitions/the supernatural” as irrational and skepticism/secularism rational.
This issue is by no means easy to explain and i will do more research at a later date.
Any thoughts/sugestions ?
P.S. I cannot trust any polls made here because religious people will be offended by the purpose of my research and might be dishonest.
I would agree both phobias and supersititons are rooted in illogical thinking, but you have to remember, that illogical thinking can often seem quite logical to the person in question.
For instance the only phobia I have is clausterphobia to a slight degree, but I’m quite superstitious. Not on some esoteric cosmic level, I just do the stuff for peace of mind in sports, feeling that I if I don’t it’ll bother me enough to distract me. I don’t truly feel anyone but me is in control of my actions, but at the same time… I do certain things out of fear of my own subconscious. So in that light I feel it to be fairly logical.
I think to be honest phobias are something which are aquired early on in life, I doubt they have too much correlation to religion on supernatural thought as those concepts themselves don’t appear to be very mature when I feel phobias are aquired.
Rationality is subjective. There is no absolute reasoning that if followed leads to rationality. There may be a kind of general, mostly ambigious ‘group’ definition, but such a definition is only relevant to individuals within said group and cannot liberally be applied to other groups.
For example, I consider your proposed “study” to be based on an irrational thought process, as I cannot see any solid reasoning that would link phobias to superstition or religion (notice the purposeful omission of “irrationality”). So you can see, it is likely that you consider yourself to be rational in proposing the above study, whereas I consider it irrational to see any sort of connection between the proposed correlative terms.
don’t skew the sample by doing it as a poll on online forums. There are too many troubles to even begin to start adress with that. (ie, biased sample, small sample, no guarantee of non-repitition, etc, etc, etc.)
you will need a very large sample for this kind of question to be reliable
there are difficulties in terms of self-identification, levels of phobia, self diagnosis, and self identification of religious adherence.
What I would do if I were you is to go to the library and start with some psych books, I would be surprised if this hasn’t been studied before.
And yes, I did have a problem with your attempted correlation of rationality/irrationality and secularity/religiosity. Don’t do this study because you have an axe to grind.
I reject the duality you have created. I am an atheist, but I have great suspicion of what is called “rationality” and reason.
Isn’t superstition a radical determinism ? If, in a given framework, the apparition of certain elements determined a certain outcome, the belief that the same causes will lead to the same effects ?
Phobias are irrational by definition; that’s generally how we distinguish a ‘phobia’ from a ‘fear’ in the first place. As to the question of any connection between religiousness and phobias, I agree with NoleyG: I don’t see any. Indeed, I’d venture to say most everyone who’s ever lived has wrestled one phobia or another.
As you can see I didn’t say anything about a link between superstition and religion, I was discussing your supposed link between PHOBIAS and superstition/religion.
oh, i see, my supposed link; well if you had read my post you would know the link is hypothetical and i’m yet to bring forth any proof; at this time i’m busy with exams and such but as soon as i’m done i will contact a number of psychologists here, aswell as do my own online “study”.
I realise the online study wont be very reliable; its only an initial inquiry to see if my assumption has any foundation in facts.
I know some very intelligent nonreligous and non superstitious folks with some hardcore phobias.
Phobias, I think are more linked to events that occur in your life, more then beliefs. From what I have seen and asked memories create phobias.
I know where the phobia that I have stems from, it happens to be the only true phobia I have. I was extremely curious how I got that way so I asked questions till I pieced it together, then I became curious about other peoples phobias, every person I asked, their phobia can be traced back to memories of events or event.
Well, it can be applied, but only according to an assumption that it retains validity when applied to a group that doesn’t endorse that meaning of ‘rationality’. It can be done, but to then call it ‘rational’ is ludicrous, if you see what I mean.
In all likelihood, if the answers to this poll don’t support the desired conclusion, then a spurious excuse will be found to ignore them. An example would be ‘well, obviously the religious/superstitious people answered and defended themselves, but didn’t post on the thread because all religious/superstitious people are secretive and deceitful’.
To any interested in the scientific method, this violates the need for falsifiability to be built into the proposed theory. I’m writing this in part for Carpathian’s benefit, in the hope of helping him conduct his enquiry in a rigorous and ‘objective’ fashion.
(i was young). My father used to laugh at me for the fact that i could kiss a hamster but i hated mice/rats.