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by collyw 744 days ago
The placebo effect is as powerful as many prescription drugs. It amazes me that scientists generally dismiss it rather than actually study it intensely. It's well known that stress can negatively affect your physiology, so I see no reason not to think that the opposite could be true.
2 comments
darepublic 744 days ago
Hence why magical thinking can be useful sometimes (or at least that's what I tell myself wishfully)
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bigyikes 744 days ago
Can you say more? Does “magical thinking” mean religion, or something else? I’m actually curious.
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darepublic 744 days ago
Can mean believing things will be OK, or events will somehow spare you, whatever the reason. Whether it's because of religious conviction, you've grown a lucky beard, had a happy dream the night before, etc. Even while being somewhat conscious of the irrationality of such beliefs they sometimes can be of help I feel. Also when music inspires / motivates you I feel like it stirs up a similar effects to a strong magical belief.
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burnished 744 days ago
'Everything happens for a reason' is a pretty common example of magical thinking that you might be more familiar with. Basically when someone favors a magical principal over cause and effect when describing the world.

I don't think it would make sense to say religion in general is magical thinking, a lot of religion can be moral or legal precepts or an explanation of the world that is rooted largely in cause and effect. There is clearly some magical thinking at play when you get into specifics but personally I'm not sure where we would say it enters play: is the belief in a final tallying magical thinking when it is justified by the belief that there exists an entity capable and willing? Not sure.

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viraptor 743 days ago
What do you mean dismiss? It's a pretty well studied area incorporated into most stuff research. What would you like to see additionally?
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collyw 743 days ago
Please explain the mechanisms behind it then.
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viraptor 743 days ago
There's a massive spectrum between "dismissed" and "mechanisms completely understood". Research continues https://gpsych.bmj.com/content/32/5/e100089
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