Silly research on prayer finds little or negative effect
March 31st, 2006
As the research on prayer movement continues, it is important to ask whether there is any research, or body of research, that would lead believers to question their beliefs? A new study [Prayer for the ill may do more harm than good] finds little effect of “intercessory prayer” by strangers on recovery from an operation. What evidence the study provides leans in the direction of prayer being harmful, if the person being prayed for knows about it.
In a discussion that demonstrates the futility of such study, the researchers indicate that the findings have little relevance:
“The authors warned it might be impossible to disentangle the effects of study prayer from background prayer, and said a possible limitation was that those doing the special praying had no connection with the subjects.
“Private or family prayer is widely believed to influence recovery from illness, and the results of this study do not challenge this belief,” the report concluded.”
Now all studies have flaws. In the social/psychological fields, no single study ever “proves” anything. But gradually a body of work supports a given conclusion and it becomes increasingly irrational to believe certain things. In Bayesian terms, posterior beliefs are a function of prior beliefs modified by evidence. Can anyone really imagine believers gradually questioning their belief as a result of a series of negative findings about the value of prayer? If not, what’s the point?
Entry Filed under: Psychology, Research Methods, Science
1 Comment Add your own
1. Jack Shalom | April 3rd, 2006 at 7:32 pm
I think you miss–or don’t comment on an important point here. The purpose of such a study is not necessarily to affect believers one way or the other–but to investigate an objective question: can the act of prayer by strangers affect a medical outcome.
Suppose the results of the experiment were positive. Then we would have an interesting phenomenon of action at a distance with no apparent physical mechanism. Certainly something worth investigating further, no?
It seems to me similar to experiments in parapsychology. If indeed one can bend spoons with only the power of one’s mind, wouldn’t we want to know more about the mechanism of what was happening?
Now in the spoonbending and other similar experiments, action at a distance always turns out to be negative or a scam, and hence uninteresting. But the article mentions that prayer by family has been shown to have a positive effect, so it seems only natural to want to further investigate what mechanism is in operation here. Isolating the variable of relationship to the patient seems a reasonable avenue to pursue.
To summarize, the purpose of such a study to my mind, is not the effect it has on the patient, but to get closer to an understanding of just what is happening when one prays for another.
Jack Shalom
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