Quirky Little Things

The science of the queer and the quotidian.
Jesse Bering is an experimental psychologist and Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at the Queen's University, Belfast. See full bio

Comments on "Jesus the Lucky Goldfish"

Jesus the Lucky Goldfish

As overseas uncles often do, yesterday I had a quick catch-up phone chat with my six-year-old nephew, Gianni (who, to set the scene, is currently waiting for both of his front teeth to come in). My sister had just explained to me that Gianni was eager to share something very exciting with me. Read More

How do experimental

How do experimental psychologists deal with the question of religion? I ask this since most of the part of religion is faith, which I could translate as something which can't be proven but has been transmitted by our ancestors, or revealed books, as they may say.

Still, without much scientific evidence, religion has become one vital aspect of human beings. We always believe that God is here with us, that God knows best, that religion is for the betterment of an individual.

One topic I'm quite interested is researches that have been done to see the effectiveness of religious coping in hard times. Correct me if I'm wrong, but most researches show that many people could bounce back by just depending on religion.

It can be very interesting if you write something about researches done regarding religion. What psychology say about it? What researches in various topics show? Thank you.

God in the lab

Hi, there are loads of experimental studies on religion, many quite innovative and going on right now. I'll need to give it some thought on how best to summarise it all for the blog, but I'll plan on covering this at some point soon. Cheers, Jesse

Clearly, that fish is, like,

Clearly, that fish is, like, the second coming, and Gianni (great name, I love it) is, um, some kind of prophet?

Oh, and:

"We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic." - Numbers, 11.5

I won't leave a Bible verse,

I won't leave a Bible verse, but I will leave a comment...you need God like judges need their criminals. Interesting. It reminds me of sales letters written by non-profits soliciting donations where they claim they wish you would "put them out of business" by sending them money. Of course it isn't true. They "need" the poverty in order to help those poor people. Besides, they never will be put out of business. Poverty is too widespread, as is religion.

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