What is the purpose of people praying?

During the Spring Festival, many loyal men and women will go to the temple to burn incense and worship Buddha, praying for a good year, safe and sound, or prosperous business and good health. So, what peace of mind do people get after a column of high incense? In psychology, prayer refers to people's expectation of some external force or God in order to gain courage and strength in their personal lives. Prayer includes divination, fortune telling, drawing lots, measuring words and reading fortune. On the surface, prayer brings some illusory cognition and makes people look forward to the future; In essence, prayer brings spiritual comfort and makes people feel at ease. In this sense, prayer can reassure people, but it can't be completely expected. People need to have the following three understandings of prayer psychology. Prayer will enhance the expectation of good luck, bring spiritual comfort and give people the necessary sense of security, which is a tradition since human beings entered civilized society. In other words, prayer can make people pin their ideals on the gods and give their dreams to the gods, which can, to some extent, expel inner depression and reduce cognitive dissonance. Therefore, people burn a column of high incense in Wutai Mountain at the beginning of the year, feeling that their wishes have been blessed by the gods, which will make people look forward to the good luck of the year. Sociological deprivation theory holds that supernatural belief is a psychological coping means for people to cope with social disadvantages, hoping to provide a supernatural refuge for this and make people feel spiritually safe. According to a study on luck published by Canadian psychologists Darke and Freedman in 2002, although luck is usually regarded as an external and unstable factor, it can become a stable personal trait for superstitious people. These people believe that luck can be controlled through certain efforts (such as praying). In other words, once people believe that they are lucky, luck is no longer an unstable and uncontrollable factor, but a stable trait of individuals. This belief can greatly improve people's sense of control over their own destiny. Darke and Freedman's research also found that believing in good luck can greatly improve people's expectations of positive life events. Among them, Asians are more prominent than North Americans. According to American psychologist Todd &; A study published by Brown in 2003 shows that there is a positive correlation between athletes' self-identity and superstitious behavior. In other words, the more an athlete has a sense of self-identity, the easier it is to be superstitious and believe in some kind of god's blessing. Because prayer or superstition can reduce competitive anxiety and enhance self-efficacy. Todd Brown's research also found that superstition also has an important impact on mental health, especially for athletes with low mental health level. Therefore, if burning a stick of high incense at the beginning of the year will make you refreshed and full of beautiful expectations for the future, then why not? Prayer gives people ritual satisfaction. Prayer is a kind of psychological suggestion, which strengthens people's beautiful expectation for the future, and its ritual satisfaction will greatly enhance this effect. Specifically, praying silently at home and praying in temples and other places reflects the gap between sincerity and sincerity. Prayer at home, no witness, no ceremony, and its information upload is uncertain; Praying in Putuo Temple, Chegong Temple and other places has both assistance and ceremony, which makes people feel that their sincere actions will be easier to upload gods and good luck will follow. According to an article published by American health scholar Dzhanis Bell Mei Sen Hyder in 2000, the health level of priests is much better than that of ordinary believers, which highlights the importance of prayer places (churches). According to a study published by sociologists Francis and Evans in 1996, for more than 2000 teenagers aged 12- 15, praying in church will obviously get higher prayer effect expectation and life satisfaction than praying at home. Francis and Evans concluded that the ritual satisfaction in the church is an important index to evaluate the effect of prayer. In this way, I sincerely went to Wutai Mountain, where it is said that fireworks are flourishing, but what is flourishing is your desire to pray. Prayer is a powerful guarantee of good luck, but it is not an absolute guarantee. Although prayer can bring people psychological comfort and expectation, it is essentially a superstitious behavior and a manifestation of attributing success to external factors. And people want to control their own destiny, it is necessary to "practice both inside and outside", and Qi Xin will work together. Specifically, although prayer can make people feel blessed by the gods, without their own efforts, the gods will not help. As an English proverb says, "God helps those who help themselves". Therefore, entrusting everything to God is tantamount to "spreading the truth" and giving up your due efforts. So "bet tomorrow with youth", in the end, there is no sense of security. It is said that when Steve Jobs, the head of Apple Computer, was treating cancer, he suddenly fell in love with natural therapy for a while and believed in supernatural power, which reduced the intensity of drug treatment. When he came back for intensive treatment, there was nothing he could do. Therefore, during the Chinese New Year, the fragrance is high, and the picture is peace of mind. But the real peace of mind, or to add their own efforts.