The power of charisma--perceived charisma inhibits the frontal executive network of believers in intercessory prayer

Abstract

This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how assumptions about speakers' abilities changed the evoked BOLD response in secular and Christian participants who received intercessory prayer. We find that recipients' assumptions about senders' charismatic abilities have important effects on their executive network. Most notably, the Christian participants deactivated the frontal network consisting of the medial and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally in response to speakers who they believed had healing abilities. An independent analysis across subjects revealed that this deactivation predicted the Christian participants' subsequent ratings of the speakers' charisma and experience of God's presence during prayer. These observations point to an important mechanism of authority that may facilitate charismatic influence, a mechanism which is likely to be present in other interpersonal interactions as well.

Fig. 1

Participants’ ratings of beliefs on a scale from 1 to 10 (90% CI).

Fig. 2

Participants’ ratings of speakers’ charisma on a scale from 1 to 10 (90% CI).

Fig. 3

Participants’ ratings of the experience of God’s presence on a scale from 1 to 10 (90% CI).

Fig. 4

Left: activations in ‘non-Christian’ relative to ‘Christian known for his healing powers’. Results are thresholded at P < 0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons (FDR). The five global maxima are marked by white circles: (A) prefrontal cortex, (B) temporoparietal junction, (C) inferior temporal cortex, (D) temporopolar/orbitofrontal region and (E) cerebellum. Middle: effect size of the three conditions compared to baseline. Right: effect of listening to the praying speakers (y-axis) as a function of subsequent ratings of the speakers' charisma on a scale from 1–10 (x-axis). The black line corresponds to the average of fitted slopes from the individual participants (numbers encircled and coloured). A subject-specific fit was chosen to accommodate for large inter-subject variance in the ratings, e.g. some subjects consistently used high ratings, while others used only low ratings. A one-sample t-test across subject-specific slopes showed a significant effect for all regions except for the cerebellum (P < 0.05).

Fig. 4

Left: activations in ‘non-Christian’ relative to ‘Christian known for his healing powers’. Results are thresholded at P < 0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons (FDR). The five global maxima are marked by white circles: (A) prefrontal cortex, (B) temporoparietal junction, (C) inferior temporal cortex, (D) temporopolar/orbitofrontal region and (E) cerebellum. Middle: effect size of the three conditions compared to baseline. Right: effect of listening to the praying speakers (y-axis) as a function of subsequent ratings of the speakers' charisma on a scale from 1–10 (x-axis). The black line corresponds to the average of fitted slopes from the individual participants (numbers encircled and coloured). A subject-specific fit was chosen to accommodate for large inter-subject variance in the ratings, e.g. some subjects consistently used high ratings, while others used only low ratings. A one-sample t-test across subject-specific slopes showed a significant effect for all regions except for the cerebellum (P < 0.05).