Scientists Studied Praying and Found It's a Good Thing

A new study carried out by a University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist, found that praying can help handle harmful emotions, as it becomes a source of comfort during hard times.

Shane Sharp, a graduate student studying sociology at UW-Madison, concluded that three quarters of the Americans who pray on a weekly basis, do it to manage negative situations and feelings, like sadness, anger, trauma or illness, but until now, scientists had no idea about this.

He conducted dozens of thorough interviews with victims of violent relationships with intimate partners, and discovered many ways that prayer helped people cope with their emotions, venting being one of them.

The people he interviewed were representative for the United States, coming from a wide range of geographic, educational and racial backgrounds and being mainly Christian.

Sharp explained that people who had a lot of anger said they found “a readily available listening ear.

“If they vented their anger to that abusive partner, the result was likely to be more violence, but they could be angry at God while praying without fear of reprisal.”

When people interact with others, they think about the way they are perceived, but when they are praying, they only consider the way that God sees them.

“During prayer, victims came to see themselves as they believed God saw them,” said Sharp.

“Since these perceptions were mostly positive, it helped raise their senses of self-worth that counteracted their abusers' hurtful words.”

Still, the sociologist said that there are a few negative consequences of praying and argues that “for some, through prayer they told me they learned to forgive their abusive partners, to let go of their anger and resentment.

“But that's a double-edged sword.

“It's good for those who are out of that violent relationship to let go of it to a certain extent.

“But if they're still in their violent relationship, it may postpone their decision to leave, and that can be bad.”

This is precisely why research should focus more on the mechanics of prayer, and admit that religion is often more complicated than “a mostly positive or mostly negative thing.”

Sharp says that prayer can also be a handy distraction, since by simply folding hands and concentrating on what to say, people find a temporary relief from the anxiety of an abusive relationship; they feel like they're talking to someone close.

“I looked at the act of praying, of speaking to God, as the same as a legitimate social interaction," said Sharp.

“Instead of a concrete interaction you would have face-to-face with another person, prayer is with an imagined other.”

Still, he adds that this does not mean that God is simply an imaginary interlocutor, “on the contrary, I wouldn't expect prayer to have these benefits for people if they thought God wasn't real.

“The important point is that they believe God is real, and that has consequences for them emotionally and for their behavior."

Finally, the sociologist said that most people he talked with said that they believe in God but do not belong to a specific church.

He concluded that praying is what all religions have in common, and that researchers should focus on the interaction between an individual and God, instead of considering that it is simply “a one-sided act.”

Sharp presents his work in the current issue of the journal Social Psychology Quarterly.