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Study suggests 'born-again' believers have smaller brains

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posted on May, 25 2011 @ 04:42 PM
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Originally posted by boondock-saint
pure horse manure

it's just an intimidation factor
against those who are believers.

but maybe I could use this manure
to fertilize the crops this spring.


But it's a study.

All studies are true and can never be propaganda.




posted on May, 25 2011 @ 04:53 PM
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reply to post by boondock-saint
 


Ah, so instead of actually addressing the data you'll just toss out conspiracy. Instead of saying that anything was actually wrong, you'll just say it's automatically wrong for unsubstantiated reasons.

Soros didn't directly finance this study. Not all studies financed by him are questionable either. Take a look at the data. If they published something questionable their careers would be on the line.



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 04:59 PM
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reply to post by Golithion
 



Originally posted by Golithion
reply to post by madnessinmysoul
 


Defensive much?


No. I'm just pissed off at people who want to downplay the importance of understanding the world around us.



So how much salt do you intake in a day? How much coffee should I drink in a day? How much caffeine is bad for you oh wait is it good for you? How about chocolate? How about sugar is that bad for you oh wait it's good for you in certain amounts?


Um...a string of nonsense questions relating to diet and nutrition, a field of study that's actually the subject of quite a bit of research....I don't get it.



Why do people eat?


...seriously? That's a very easy question: energy and mass. We cannot build or repair our bodies without external mass and we can't run them without external energy.



Give me a break science is not based on studies like this,


You're right, science is based on the scientific method. Science happens to contain studies like this.



you want to find out why brain's shrink during Alzheimer and why there are seizures go for it.


Crazy thing about science, it's there to investigate everything.



You tell me how they determined that a living human being's brain shrunk because of a belief?


Maybe you could try reading the link provided in the OP or maybe even, and I know this is an incredibly extreme idea, the study itself! You know, the thing that they actually publish for public viewing! And it's in an open-access journal too...



Edit to add this little tid bit from the article itself, There may be more factors responsible for the correlation," she said of the study published on March 30 in "PLoS One," a peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication."
That alone say's it all.


Um...PLoS One is fairly rigorous. The only difference it has to traditional print journals is that it has a much wider range of topics that are covered.

And you do realize that this is a preliminary study, right? You don't seem to understand how science works. They published this so that either they or someone else can continue the research to revisit these findings and see if there is a causation or if it's merely a correlation.

You do realize that peer-reviewed publications (and this one goes through two stages) have fairly high standards for what they accept, right?
edit on 25/5/11 by madnessinmysoul because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 04:59 PM
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So if it's only Protestants who are born again, then does the brain shrink immediately upon joining a Protestant church? Then shrink again when that person is born again by the Holy Spirit? What happens if a person joins a Protestant church, decides to leave and join a Catholic church? Or another religion, say Islam?

Soooooooo much to ponder, I'm scared now.



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 05:01 PM
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reply to post by boondock-saint
 


BS

Aside from the fact that, if you had bothered to read the article, the study doesn't actually address religion, it addresses a specific subset of a specific group of Christians, you have no evidence for anything you're saying.

The article doesn't go against religious people, it just simply seems to provide evidence of a correlation between being 'born again' and brain size. Last I checked, 'born again' Christians did not make up a majority of the religious in America and were actually not considered all that mainstream by the majority of Americans...



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 05:02 PM
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reply to post by NOTurTypical
 


Or maybe you could try reading the article and the study. But that would be too much work, wouldn't it? Hell, appealing to ridicule is just so much easier!



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 05:35 PM
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Or what about this. What if I grow up Atheist, then after I'm fully grown become a Protestant born-again believer? Will there still be significant shrinkage? Or is there only small brain syndrome if I was born again during my growing years? What if I grew up as a Protestant and after 30 I leave the faith, will my brain grow to normal proportions? What if I don't want an egg-head to begin with?

SO MANY OPTIONS!!!







edit on 25-5-2011 by NOTurTypical because: Sorry, had too phix speelin errers cuz my brian is two smalls.



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 05:36 PM
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Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
reply to post by NOTurTypical
 


Or maybe you could try reading the article and the study. But that would be too much work, wouldn't it? Hell, appealing to ridicule is just so much easier!


I prolly won't understand it since I've got a small brain.

Not my fault.

Do you think I can get on disability?



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 05:43 PM
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reply to post by boondock-saint
 


Sorry I don't recall Jesus preaching and condemning people who didn't want to listen to him. He never forced anyone to listen to his Gospel. The people gathered around him and if they didn't like what he had to say they would leave, try to debate, or when all else failed kill him.
Yes he wants Christians to be fishers of men, but if the fish ain't biting...Just saying.
Big difference.



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 05:43 PM
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reply to post by yahwehsprincess
 


LOL really?
is that an appropriate response? no, no it isnt.

UMADBRO?
- same effect



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 06:13 PM
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reply to post by madnessinmysoul
 


Doesn't give way that there is no mention of control, and sorry but testing on speculation instead of what is there in the evidence is not scientific. I know exactly how science work, their hypothesis was fine, it was the methods that are not, why only 58 year olds? What was the body mass index compared to the size of the brain. Which denotes intelligence, what was the other factors involved? I do not question Plus one, I question the study which is why I do not like it. And the question of Why do humans eat? Was actually a study done and reported in the New York times. The point is this was a bad example of a study whether it is preliminary or not. By the way body mass index divided by the size of the brain equals 2/3 of intelligence. So this study does not denote the intelligence of the people involved only the size. As for whether or not I am bias, I already stated I am not religious and have no reason to be against the study. But the lack of control is what disturbed me, it's like saying the sky is made out of chocolate just because two hundred people think it is so. Not to mention it doesn't take into account that in fact people will and can lie in studies. Hence why they are not the basis of scientific research conclusions. They are used as a measure of research by showing people where they can focus, but untested they are not reliable. That is my personal opinion but there you have it.

I have to add mass body divided by brain size is the anthropological method, good article on that and some other things: health.howstuffworks.com...
edit on 5/25/1111 by Golithion because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 06:22 PM
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reply to post by mkkkay
 


I think they should test their theory that it is the stress of being in a minority group against other minority religious groups, like pagans or Wiccans for instance. If their brains are shrunken in the same way, we can accept that stress may be a factor or a possible cause.

Im not saying this study has any credibility at all, mind you, Im just saying they could test that theory relatively easily. Its got to be much more objectively stressful being a Wiccan than a born again Christian. I know a few Pagans and Wiccans and they get comments and nagging and conversion attempts all the time if someone finds out.

Edit to add, I also think they should consider whether or not people who already had their hippocampus shrunken were more likely to become born again Christians. After all, there seem to a be a much higher percentage of former serious sinners among born agains than in the more traditional versions. Ex criminals, druggies, alcoholics, etc. After all, the reason they were born again was to wash away all the naughty stuff they had been doing prior to that, and much of the baggage associated with those lifestyles could well be the cause of the brain damage.
edit on 25-5-2011 by Illusionsaregrander because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 07:27 PM
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reply to post by Golithion
 


Nope, we ares tiny brians.

It was a study!



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 08:43 PM
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Some posters put up a slightly valid argument against but other posters who are angry with the study I see...

Cognitive Dissonance



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 08:55 PM
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So has anyone found out where these alleged shrunkin hippo camps are located?

And are the camps shrunkin or iz it the hippos?

THIS

IZ

CONFUCIUS!!!



edit on 25-5-2011 by NOTurTypical because: (no reason given)



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 09:06 PM
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Originally posted by TheOneElectric
Some posters put up a slightly valid argument against but other posters who are angry with the study I see...

Cognitive Dissonance



It's NOT the size of the brian that matters anyways, it's how you use it that counts.

Anyone who knows anything knows that duh.



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 09:10 PM
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Originally posted by ldyserenity
reply to post by mkkkay
 


I have only one thing to say about this.
Who needed a study to know that?

Why do one anyway? They'll just deny it is accurate and say it's discriminatory...so on and so on!


I'm not denying my hippo shrunk, all my fitted hats are too big, I have to buy all new ones.

It's REAL!!!!!



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 09:30 PM
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Participants, all 58 or OLDER , were initially recruited fo a larger study on the effects of depression in the elderly. That study is ongoing. For this study, researchers ruled out depression or lack of social support as reasons for the smaller brain size, or hippocampal atrophy. The hippocampus is an area buried deep in the brain that helps regulate emotion and memory. Atrophy or shrinkage in this region of the brain has long been linked to mental health problems such as depression, dementia and Alzheimer's disease. So why would born-again Protestants, Catholics and those with no religious affiliation have a smaller hippocampus? Researchers speculate it may have something to do with the stress of belonging to a minority group. Chronic stress floods the brain with hormones that, over time, may damage the hippocampus.


(Emphasis mine)

The article about the study made absolutely no sense to me. It seems to be a bunch of double speak.
Obviously some people who suffer from depression are going to have issues with hippocampal atrophy. Um, hello.

This whole thing is very comical except its a stinking waste of $$$.

This study could have been done on ANY group & I would still find it rather funny & just plain silly.

If my brain is small why is my noggin so big??? Did they have to bubble wrap the brain I was given because its so small & dumb...lol.





edit on 25-5-2011 by nerdyclutzyblonde because: Little brain (I'm having fun w/this
) messed up the quote.



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 09:43 PM
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Whew...this is serious...isn't it?


My brain is smaller and now I have a good excuse to give my wife when I can't remember something...

Oh shoot! This will never work either because she a believer too! Oh well...might have worked.



posted on May, 25 2011 @ 10:01 PM
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reply to post by mkkkay
 


The same thing can be said about atheists who are intolerable to religion without taking in both sides.

I'm a born again believer, and amongst the highest in my class at college in my field of study in biochemistry with an IQ of 163 the last time I checked.

The study you shown is very bias by any standards and rather harsh.




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