prayer vs positive outlook

So I was having an conversation with my also non-believer/backslider heathen stepdad.  I was telling him that having a positive outlook on rehabilitation and recovery (assuming there is a diagnosis that supports that).  I am not saying if you are on life support and having a positive outlook will reverse things.  This is keeping things in perspective, also with a little bit of luck.  By luck I mean someone being 1 inch away from a bullet hitting an artery or not for example.  


lets look at the definition according to wikipedia 
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with a deity or object of worship through deliberate communication. Prayer can be a form of religious practice, may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation, formal creed, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person. 


check out this infograph from sochurch that states that very few people don't pray or pray very little, so there are tons of people who believe this stuff works. 


http://sochurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Answers-to-Your-Prayers.jpg




This is done many different ways within different cultures and for different reasons but I will not get into it here.  I have never  been one to pray or feel that a higher order of power would will his/her or their hand for me or someone else's benefit.  


As a psychology major I believe that certain words and actions can push a person to do things they wouldn't have before.  But a caveat to that is I also think it can be a "placebo " at times depending on the wording.   


"Motivation is a process that elicits, controls, and sustains certain behaviors. Motivation is a group phenomenon that affects the nature of an individual's behavior, the strength of the behavior, and the persistence of the behavior. For instance: An individual has not eaten, he or she feels hungry, and as a response he or she eats and diminishes feelings of hunger. There are many approaches to motivation: physiological, behavioural, cognitive, and social^[1]. It is the crucial element in setting and attaining goals—and research shows that subjects can influence their own levels of motivation and self-control^[2]. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure, or it may include specific needs such as eating and resting, or a desired object, goal, state of being, ideal, or it may be attributed to less-apparent reasons such as altruism, selfishness, morality, or avoiding mortality. Conceptually, motivation is distinct from volition and optimism.^[3] Motivation is related to, but distinct from, emotion."


Is the process of motivation perfect no!!, are the results we do have based on research, theories, science and have been "proven" with a high rate of accuracy in some cases? yes.  I mean we are dealing with humans.  The idea of motivation to came from a book I was reading  called "my stroke of insight"  a story about a neuro scientist stroke complications and her road to recovery.  She noted how mentally the positive reinforcement from her loved ones that she would eventually get better made a huge difference in her 8 year journey.  I also saw a recent story of matt long, a guy who got mauled by a bus and went through alot to get back.  He eventually made the choice not to quit then eventually got back to running Tri's albeit not at his former high level. 


My argument to him was that having a positive attitude involved realistic goals of where you want to be and dealing with the sensory properties that are given to you at that time. Basically making a mind body connection to heal. it is also stated in this article.http://www.appliedsportpsych.org/resource-center/injury-&-rehabilitation/articles/imagery

A study was conducted on the many factors that might play a role psychologically and sociological aspects of recovery called "Psychological Psychological Response to Injury, Recovery, and Social Support: A Survey of Athletes at an NCAA Division I University (2006)




The difference between motivation vs prayer is that prayer requires some huge chance that something will occur without technically putting in the "work" or feeling like a diety is on your side.  When prayer does not work it is usually said that it is meant to be (gods will), when it work well it works (gods will).  So god in this sense was never really wrong.  


But according to "The thinking atheist" it fails and I am inclined to agree http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/blogpost/28