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THE HEALING AND DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF BELIEF

History offers countless examples of the positive and negative powers of belief when applied to individual or collective suffering. As studies of pharmacologically inactive agents, so-called placebos and nocebos, have shown, belief in the efficacy of a particular medication can bring dramatic benefits to an ailing person, whereas negative perceptions of a treatment can have the opposite effect. Belief in the righteousness of a cause can inspire constructive action, as happened in the American civil rights movement. But beliefs can also prove lethal, as exemplified in vaccine denial, or murderous, as manifested in the Salem witchcraft trials and the Spanish Inquisition. The destructive power of belief can be harnessed by a charismatic political leader such as Adolf Hitler, who offers hope to people who are desperate, angry, or afraid. Figures like Charles Manson, Jim Jones, and the Kenyan religious leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie persuade vulnerable people to serve such leaders’ perverse motives. We will explore the complex nature of belief, examine the personal characteristics found in those who are able to instrumentalize belief for good or ill, and seek to identify the traits of those who benefit from or are undone by their own beliefs.

Instructor: Dr. Stephen Bank

Three Tuesdays, March 11, 18, 25, 4:00–5:30 pm, Wasch Center $95