The weirdest scientific experiment ever -- torturing religious people

[Generic Other]

"In a bizarre experiment, academics at The Oxford Centre For Science Of The Mind ‘tortured’ 12 Roman Catholics and 12 atheists with electric shocks as they studied a painting of the Virgin Mary.

They found that the Catholics seemed to be able to block out much of the pain."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1063370/Why-faith-God-really-relieve-pain.html#ixzz1HfYuvZkC

[Duer 157099]

1. Scientific proof that religion is indeed an opiate n/t

[Generic Other]

2. I am in favor of renaming this painting the Electric Virgin Mary

I wonder who painted it? It is certainly a powerful talisman!! A very magical image indeed!!

[csziggy]

5. They used two different paintings - I think this is Sassoferrato's Virgin Mary

"The scientists then asked them to contemplate two paintings, Sassoferrato’s 17th Century Virgin Annunciate (Virgin Mary) and Leonardo da Vinci’s 15th Century Lady With An Ermine."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1063370/Why-faith-God-really-relieve-pain.html#ixzz1HfdI0MgM


This is the da Vinci:


The ermine is the weasel. I expect they wanted to see if the religious painting had inherent "powers" and wanted a very similar painting without the religious connotations.

[Generic Other]

7. clockwork orange!

just stare at the weasel...

[Pisces]

3. The mind is a powerful thing. We are able to control more than we think, put ourselves into

trances and block out what we don't want to feel or remember.

[Mr Generic Other]

4. for me,

the study is incomplete without any mention of stigmata as a sign of the catholic's euphoria while enduring christ-like pain.

[Generic Other]

6. If you can block out pain you should be able to do something more productive

than just bleed. Maybe you should be able to use that power for good. Stop natural disasters, for example.

[defendandprotect]

8. Are these "scientists" now going to jail -- ? WTF?

[Schema Thing]

31. why would they be?

use language the way language works, dude. god knows everyone who speaks to you will be.

[Arugula Latte]

9. The religious must be used to enduring pain.

[glinda]

23. Roman Catholics wrap their life around pain though. So they are used to it.

[pa28]

10. Not weird at all. Seems like an interesting subject for experiment.

A friend of mine was a pastor and I attended several of his services "just because". Whenever he started talking about eternal life in heaven I'd look around and the congregation suddenly seemed like it was "on" something. Nobody was actually drooling but it looked like a close call in a few cases.

If I were a man of the cloth I'd hit the everlasting life angle really hard (being a natural cynic) and then ask for extremely large cash donations while the iron was still hot.

[laconicsax]

11. The Daily Mail?

Was Fox News unavailable?

The Daily Mail is a right-wing rag that plays fast-and-loose with reality. Someone who worked there said that it's paper where http://www.newstatesman.com/media/2008/01/asylum-seekers-mail-report">"you knew that the headline had been written before the story came in and your job was to make the facts fit."

[Generic Other]

14. I stumbled on the article when I was looking for images of madonnas

I just found it interesting that this image was used in a psy op experiment this odd. It makes her more than a run-of-the-mill madonna painting if you ask me. She's the electric shock madonna. More Monty Pythonesque than Fox right wing.

Sheesh lighten up!

[laconicsax]

17. It makes more sense when understood, and the Mail isn't a source liable to foster understanding.

The fact that the Daily Mail is complete garbage isn't well enough known in these parts.

[auntsue]

12. Well duh - Catholics (i used to be one) have long been

conditioned to believe in that sort of magic. I use a form of meditation and guided imagry to "go to the beach" during dental work. It helps me not focus on the "discomfort" --- a believer can do the same - it's a mind over matter thing. I could train anyone (if they are not skeptical of the whole idea) to take their mind to another place. I used to work in South Central LA in the HOT summers at a day care wiht no A/C - I would sith with my little ones in a circle and we'd imagine ice cubes on our heads - melting and the cold water running down chilling us. they loved to play and we "felt" cooler.

[enki23]

13. just as though they had taken placebo painkillers. whee.

.

[Generic Other]

15. The Electric Shock Madonna was a placebo as well as a fetish amulet?

That actually makes sense enki!

[FormerDittoHead]

16. They're also able to block out the fact that their church is abetting child rapists. n/t

[laconicsax]

18. +1

[Cleita]

19. As a graduate of Catholic schools, I can testify that

we are well able to mentally block out various kinds of abuse both mental and physical and I'm not talking about unacceptable types like rape but things that were acceptable like kneeling on cement for hours. We were encouraged to make sacrifices and those sacrifices often took the shape of doing things that were uncomfortable or painful.

[ThoughtCriminal]

20. Subject wording a bit misleading

since half the subjects were atheists.

[Generic Other]

21. True...the athiests were in more pain weren't they?

They could argue they were tortured more.

[NYC Liberal]

22. The experiment is bullshit though.

Of course the religious people were able to 'block out' the pain...they were looking at something that meant something to them.

The atheists were looking at the same painting of Mary...which means absolutely nothing to them. And a random da Vinci painting probably didn't mean much either.

And yes, it's the Daily Mail anyway...

[Raine]

25. Yeah give the atheists a picture of something that means

something to them like the picture of a family member etc then do the test. The way they did it is meaningless.

[Festivito]

32. I say both of you are correct. The test is silly without each having a trusted object./nt

[mdmc]

29. 1

[Generic Other]

24. Perhaps she can ease the pain of watching Japan get radiated

I present "Our Lady of Electric Shocks (and Nuclear Reactors)"

[Generic Other]

37. My holy card is not working to lessen the pain

Very sad indeed.

[LeftishBrit]

26. Agh. The Daily Mail again!

'Torturing religious people', my hind foot! These were *both* religious people *and* atheists, who had volunteered for the study, knowing that it would involve mild electric shocks. People who choose to engage in most sports, for example, incur far more 'torture' routinely. (So, one might say, do those who choose to read the Daily Fail!)

But it is interesting in showing the effect that strong faith (probably not only religious faith) can have on the brain and our perceptions.

[mdmc]

30. yes

There is data supporting the power of prayer - it is very fascinating

[Generic Other]

34. post title was tongue in cheekyness on my part

my apologies. Like you, I found the conclusions of the test interesting.

I was actually looking for images of the virgin mary when I stumbled on this Daily Mail story. Not familiar with the paper's obvious reputation! See post 24 to view my version of "Our Lady of the Electric Shocks (and Radiation)."

[intaglio]

27. Sounds like this thread needs some Dan and Dan

Dan and Dan, The Daily Mail Song

[Generic Other]

35. That was hysterical

Guess I managed to read a decade of the paper in this single post! hahaha

[WinkyDink]

28. Can volunteers be considered "tortured", given they can STOP the experiment?

[Generic Other]

36. I hate electric shocks and consider them torture

I am walking static electricity for some reason. Mostly I was interested in the vision of Our Lady of the Electric Shocks (and Radiation) that could lessen the pain I felt about Japan.

It didn't work.

See post 24 to view my version of the original holy card.

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

33. Isn't This An Old Experiment?

I thought the Catholic church tried this already. They called it the Spanish Inquisition! Cardinal Fang...fetch the comfy chair!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tym0MObFpTI

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!