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Related Experiment Video

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Personal prayer counteracts self-control depletion.

Malte Friese¹, Lea Schweizer², Anaïs Arnoux²

¹Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Germany.

Consciousness and Cognition

|October 4, 2014

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Prayer may help replenish self-control immediately after demanding mental tasks. This study found that praying, unlike free thought, prevented self-control depletion following thought suppression, aiding cognitive performance.

Keywords:

Cognitive control Cognitive resources Ego-depletion Praying Self-control

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Cognitive Science
Neuroscience

Background:

Long-term prayer is linked to enhanced self-control.
The immediate effects of prayer on self-control capacity are not well understood.
Self-control can be depleted by demanding cognitive tasks, a phenomenon known as ego depletion.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether prayer can counteract immediate self-control depletion.
To examine the short-term effects of prayer on cognitive performance after a depleting task.

Main Methods:

Participants engaged in either thought suppression (white bear task) or a control condition.
Following the suppression task, participants either prayed briefly or engaged in free thought.
Cognitive performance was assessed using the Stroop task, a measure of executive function and self-control.

Main Results:

Thought suppression led to decreased performance on the Stroop task in the free thought condition.
Prayer significantly counteracted the negative effects of thought suppression on Stroop performance.
This protective effect of prayer was observed on a task lacking religious or moral content.

Conclusions:

Brief prayer can serve as an immediate intervention to restore depleted self-control.
Prayer's ability to bolster self-control may extend beyond religious or moral contexts.
Future research should explore the underlying psychological and neural mechanisms of prayer-induced self-control restoration.