%0 Journal Article
%T Oath-taking: A divine prescription for health-related behaviour change?
%J Medical hypotheses
%D 2010
%A Buetow, Stephen A.
%A Adams, Peter
%V 74
%N 3
%P 422-427
%X Approaches to personal behaviour change include contractual and negotiation models. This paper elaborates these partnership models by linking a religious act to desired behaviour change beyond narrow and specific domains, such as promotion of sexual abstinence. It discusses the hypothesis that oath-taking can facilitate positive, health-related behaviour change in human individuals. The change must be desired by these individuals when they nevertheless feel conflicted in their motives, and believe in a divine presence to which they can oath-take. In support of this meta-hypothesis of the effectiveness of oath-taking to a hypothetical divinity, we first describe the nature of oaths and oath-taking, including legitimacy and satisfaction conditions, and then postulate how ten interrelated sets of mechanisms can be expected to facilitate oath-keeping. We playfully and heuristically express these mechanisms as 'ten commandments'. Constituting a divine prescription for health-related change, the mechanisms require oath-takers to: believe in the oath, recognize oath-taking as an established and legitimate social behaviour, crystallize the content of the oath, declare the oath aloud, oath-take privately if they prefer, commit to relationships that support oath-taking, replace their relationship with the unwanted behaviour, sanctify the divine presence, honor obligations produced by the oath-taking, and fear oath-breaking. Limitations of oath-taking are then considered as are some of the implications of our arguments.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Elsevier Publishing
%@ 0306-9877
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2009.06.035