Chapter 21
"Faith as product loyalty - religious experience as positive identification and attribution of cause to a product. Introduction of new world views by transcranial stimulation of the frontal lobes after presentation of pseudo-religious content with psychometrically based microtargeting"
Prof. Shaktyran, Summary of Research Results on the Study of Religious Attribution, University of L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, in cooperation with the Vinland Foundation
Keywords: customer loyalty, magnetic stimulation, neuromarketing, neuromysticism, religious attribution factor
Content:
1. Summary
2. Faith and brain research
2.1 Religious experience through transcranial magnetic stimulation
2.2 Presetting as a condition of religious experience
2.3 Thesis: Controlling religious experience through prior activation
3. Psychometrics
3.1 Predicting and influencing behavior through digital personality analysis
3.2. Personality profiles and microtargeting
4. Product loyalty and faith
4.1. Customer satisfaction
4.2 Satisfaction as attribution of effects to a product
4.3 Thesis: Faith is a form of product loyalty
5. Religious attribution factor (RELAT factor)
5.1 RELAT factor within living religions
5.2 Thesis: RELAT factor can be increased by magnetic stimulation and microtargeting
6. Experiment
6.1 Magnetic stimulation and microtargeting in relation to a fictitious Nordic god in the context of a computer game
6.2 Comparative group of representatives of dead religions
7. Conclusion
1. Summary
By religion we understand a belief, i.e. being convinced of a certain world view. Many of today's world religions have been practiced for centuries, some for millennia. For some decades now the question of where and how faith originates has been part of brain research. Even if there is still disagreement about the exact location of faith in the human brain, some studies suggest that faith or spiritual experience can be generated by transcranial brain stimulation, i.e. the application of magnetic currents to the frontal lobes.
An analysis of what people believe in a broader sense has become comprehensible and individualizable thanks to the digital revolution. Every day millions upon millions of digital fingerprints are left behind, which can be precisely localized and assigned to individual personality patterns using the possibilities of psychometrics, meaning the analysis of the utterance of individuals on social media. Through a combination of psychometric evaluation and classification according to personality profiles, predictions can be made about how people will react, and conclusions can be drawn about what people believe in. Through digital selection, advertising and influencing can be character-adapted and individualized. This so-called microtargeting of people can be used to try to influence purchase or choice decisions and also the world view.
In the present case psychometric models, meaning the personality evaluation and analysis of digital data, were combined with conventional methods of transcranial magnetic stimulation of the frontal lobes. The manipulation with religious content could thus be personalized and character adapted and examined.
In the economic field there are a large number of studies that deal with customer satisfaction and product loyalty. Customer satisfaction is defined as the state when the customer's expectations of a product or service are met and exceeded. Long-term product loyalty occurs when the customer considers a product or service to be the cause of a positive feeling or added value, which happens when he attributes a certain causality to a product or service.
Up to now religion and business have mostly been examined sociologically for their mutual influence but have not been subjected to a structural comparison.
The studies presented in the following have shown that mechanisms of product loyalty can be transferred and applied to mechanisms of the introduction of a new world view or a new belief. A religion can be regarded as a product with long-term customer loyalty which spans over generations.
In an experiment in which participants in a computer game underwent phases of transcranial magnetic stimulation after being manipulated with fictitious religious content, it was shown that a new religion can be introduced in the same way as a new product. For validation, the faith values of a group of believers of a real religion were compared with the faith values of the computer players. Followers of a currently practiced world religion were examined for their religious attribution factor. Therefore, values were determined for a scale of how faith influences decisions and attitudes of daily life. This religious attribution factor was averaged among believers and compared to the religious attribution factor of computer players. It was found that at the end of the game, the computer players' values of faith in the pseudo-religion they had been exposed to had come closer to the values of believers in the world religion that had existed for thousands of years.
According to the results of a further comparative study it can be assumed that transcranial brain stimulation was decisive for the generation of the new world view or the fictitious religion. For this purpose, the attempts of representatives of past religions to reintroduce their cults were examined for their effectiveness. The results indicate that microtargeting without brain stimulation is not suitable for generating relevant values of a religious attribution factor.
2. Faith and brain research
2.1 Religious experience through transcranial magnetic stimulation
In science it is assumed that faith can be localized in certain areas of the human brain. On this basis it is further assumed that faith or forms of extrasensory perception can be generated by stimulating certain areas of the brain. For this purpose, signals with a strength of 1 to 5 μT (microtesla) were applied to the frontal temporal lobes by means of transcranial magnetic stimulation. Studies (Gersinger et al.) concluded that in this way a religious experience can be stimulated in 80% of the population. For this purpose, the test persons were connected to an apparatus via a type of headphone, placed in a 2 x 2 m large dark room and applied with magnetic currents for 30 minutes. Afterwards 80% of the test persons reported mystical or paranormal experiences, such as the feeling of the presence of another sentient being or a strong presence.
According to some reports and theses, the neuronal stimulation between amygdala and hippocampus should lead to extrasensory perception and trance, or to a synthesis of the left and right hemisphere with a feeling of unity.
This triggered a popular debate about the seat of faith in the brain. Using coloring systems from magnetic resonance imaging, especially by examining the neuronal activity of meditators, further possible areas of cause were localized. It was argued that the assumption of the frontal lobes as the seat of belief may not be sufficient and that attention-controlling and cognitive aspects should be considered.
Despite a second study with a comparison group (Grandvik et al.) which did not establish any connection between transcranial magnetic stimulation and extrasensory experience, devices for magnetic stimulation of brain areas are now being sold for private use. Users can choose for themselves what effect the magnetic stimulation should have, for example "relaxation" or "concentration". In some countries, transcranial magnetic stimulation is used to treat severe depression.
2.2 Presetting as a condition of religious experience
However, further studies which assumed that the magnetic stimulation had no effect (Grandvik, Brönsen, etc.) showed a connection between the religious pre-setting of the subjects and their later interpretation of any extrasensory experience during the magnetic stimulation. The values were determined by means of questionnaires before and after the application of the magnetic currents in a closed room. Immediately before the experiment, the subjects were asked about the general presence of religious attitudes (VRE according to Bracks and Kögler 1983) in the cognitive system. This included questions about the role of each faith in decision-making, activities such as attending church services, prayers, etc. Still in the room test persons filled out a questionnaire according to the scale of mystical perception (Ashavanta, Heidrun, etc. 1972), where the questions were specifically limited to the experiences during the experiment and not to the general everyday experience. It was asked whether the test persons had extrasensory experiences during the last 30 minutes. The description of the experience, if perceived as extrasensory, was argued religiously by those who also scored high on the VRE scale. This means that the religious default setting determines the interpretation of the experience as religious. In the context of this experiment, it was suggested that the effect of brain stimulation could be of a subordinate nature in itself and that instead the state of deprivation, here the extensive exclusion of external stimuli, is responsible for a mystical experience. A lack of external stimuli favored the focus on inner states, which is why inner contemplation or retreat is a part of many religious systems. A religiously shaped presetting with the focus on the inner states could be responsible for a mystical experience.
2.3 Thesis: Controlling religious experience through prior activation
For the present study with the participants in the computer game, a reference by Grandvik, Brönsen and others was taken up and further developed. They had hypothesized that the interpretation of certain experiences on a religious basis might be related to the fact that the religious attitude was queried directly before the experiment, with the consequence that immediately afterwards during the experiment the cognitive religious schemata were activated and thus influenced perception ("activation of religious primes"). As an example, it is assumed that a particular perception within a religious building such as a church will automatically lead to an interpretation as extrasensory and religious rather than the same experience in a supermarket. It has been suggested that further religious manipulation immediately prior to an experiment, e.g. visually by showing religious symbols or audibly by playing mantras or spiritual music, would lead to higher values on the scale of mystical perceptions.
This could be confirmed by the present study as will be explained below.
3. Psychometry
3.1 Predicting and influencing behavior through digital personality analysis
The analysis of human behavior can be seen in consumer behavior, movement behavior and expressions in the social sphere. In the past, a particular difficulty in measuring a person's personality was often the insufficient availability of usable data. The previous means of questionnaires and surveys have proven to be inaccurate and not very meaningful. Thanks to the digital revolution, researchers today have a mass of data at their disposal that provide indications of personal attitudes and how they are influenced. Research into the classification of human behavior can make use of all the digital data that is freely available on the market. This includes mobile movements, consumer behavior, behavior with apps and games, and especially the expression of personal attitudes through symbols of approval or rejection ("likes") within social media. People react differently to challenges. The reactions depend on the respective personality profile or world view of the persons. A comparison of reactions to a particular challenge alone allows only limited conclusions to be drawn about behavior patterns or their control, as long as the respective basic personalities are not taken into account. If, for example, a person who is willing to take risks shows risky behavior, this should be evaluated differently than if an anxious person shows risky behavior. In the latter case, a closer look should be taken at what has led to behavior which in itself lies outside the personality profile of the person concerned.
3.2 Personality profiles and microtargeting
According to the recognized "Atlantic model", the personality of a person is divided into six categories with the following determining character traits:
- Openness
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Social centeredness
- Egoistic centeredness
- Hybrid forms
The latter category includes personalities whose traits appear to be equally distributed. They usually make up 12% of the population.
Once a person's character trait has been determined, their needs, fears and future behavior can be identified. In order to determine this trait, the test persons were given a questionnaire, which was designed as an online quiz as an app. By downloading the questionnaire, the test persons agreed to the analysis and use of their digital data.
After creating the respective personality profile, the individual digital data was evaluated. As in the classic psychometric studies and their commercial use to influence voting, special attention was paid to the evaluation of the approval or rejection functions in social media. The comparison or combination of the respective character trait with the digital positioning allows, on the one hand, predictions of future behavior and, on the other hand, conclusions about other characteristics of the person. According to the current state of research, it is assumed that from an analysis of 100 "likes", i.e. expressions of approval or rejection in social networks, predictions can be made with 80% accuracy as to how a test person will answer certain questions. It is also possible to draw conclusions about e.g. skin color, religion, sexual orientation and voting behavior.
By using the psychological "Atlantic Model" in combination with the evaluation of psychographic digital data, a much more targeted marketing or influencing behavior can be placed than before. Where up to now an address was made on a large scale and to supposedly homogeneous groups, for example "men", "women", "young people", "pensioners", targeted addresses can now be made. Using psychometric procedures, groups with certain characteristics can be precisely localized and addressed. For example, a group of "lesbian adult women with a vegetarian diet and a migration background in certain districts using a specific telephone provider" could be found and addressed digitally. The address can be specifically adapted to the personalities and attitudes ("microtargeting").
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