Hypnosis in religion

[abaris]

The act of collecting money is a psychological trick in itself -- if you collect regularly, at a fixed time, people will be more likely to give. Some churches in small villages also include a list of donors. At the end of the service they read the list so everyone knows who gave how much.

Curious. I grew up as a catholic, but the collection was anonymous. A basket was handed through the pews and everyone put some dimes in. There's of course peer pressure involved, since not putting something in would get you attention, but never did the priest tell what everybody gave. He didn't even know to begin with. And I grew up in a rather small village.