Rod Hetzel wrote in part: "So, leaving the antagonistic comments and personal agendas behind us, what can we as psychologists contribute to the discussion of religion and human behavior. I have some potential questions for us to address: Are there specific variables that would predict prosocial versus antisocial behaviors among theists and atheists? Are there certain variables that would predict prososical behavior among theists but not atheists (or among atheists but not theists)? Are there certain variables that would predict antisocial behavior among theists but not atheists (or among atheists but not theists)? Are differences between theists and atheists in how they cope with stress?"
I have to wonder what would be the value of these "preditcor variables", even if we could find them. Certainly no one could calim that there was a causal relationship between religion and prosocial behaviour based on such a correlation alone and I can't envision an experiment where people are randonly assigned to the "theist" or "atheist" conditions. As for predicting the likelihood of antisocial (or prosocial) behaviour based on theist belief I'm sure that the variablity among subjects would be so large that making specific predictions about specific individuals would be fruitless. Regarding differences in "coping with stress", well that seems to be a tautological nightmare. If you define a "good coper" as someone who accepts god's will then the theists will, by definition , be bound to be better. What do you see as the practical outcome of such research? All the best, -Don. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
