Interdisciplinary Studies on the Human Condition
We have hedonic functions that represent a significant part of our system in relation to acquired beliefs. Beliefs have emotional components that help regulate feelings depending on the individual and the situation. Various theories fully support the hedonic functions of faith such as Just-World Theory (Lerner, 1980) Lerner researched the hypothesis that claims that most individuals need to see the world as a just place. This context favors people to see their sufferings with a valuable, beneficial purpose. A study carried out in 1965 shows that subjects are more likely to believe that a lottery won by a student makes the winning student more worthy and hardworking than a student who did not win the lottery. In a separate study conducted one year after the end of this study, Lerner and a colleague of his filmed an experiment. The participants were actors who pretended to be electrocuted. The experiment concluded that subjects tend to devalue the victim, forming a lower/negative opinion of them when one voluntarily chooses to remain in the study despite their suffering.) Thus, people have a tendency to have a devout opinion about a person who is in pain without having the chance of a prize for his or her suffering. The person considered to have a bad character is a way for people to help themselves to process something unfair as being fair. To exemplify how an individual’s beliefs shape their personality, we can look at the survey done in 1975 by Zick Rubin (from Harvard University) and Letitia Anne Peplau (from UCLA). Their findings showed that those who tend to believe in a just world are often religious people who share characteristics such as authority and are quite unfavorable to people who have beliefs contrary to them. In a conclusive way with the situation that can influence faith in a significant matter, we have Terror Management Theory. This theory takes the considerable fear of death and demonstrates that this fear encourages people to have a view of themselves that increases their dignity and self- worth. In order to live a meaningful life and to capitalize on this fear, the individual wants to build a hierarchical life, thus forming prejudices. This theory was consecrated by Jeff Greenberg, Sheldon Solomon and Tom Pyszczynski (1986), based on other concepts of Ernest Becker who
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