r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 9h ago

Psychology Lower cognitive ability is linked to stronger Christian nationalist views, even after accounting for education

https://www.psypost.org/lower-cognitive-ability-is-linked-to-stronger-christian-nationalist-views-even-after-accounting-for-education/
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u/crossdtherubicon 9h ago

Alot of religious ideology is ingested through early development and reinforced through the environment. This has been pretty well-documented, although it isn't an exclusive pathway to acquiring religious beliefs.

In light of this article I'm curious if cognitive ability simply never fully develops (or is restricted somehow) in that context. Or if there are also subpopulations wherein a relative lower congitive ability allows for an easier ingestion of religious beliefs (or likewise is perceived as reasonably easier to understand).

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u/kheret 8h ago

Certainly people in highly religious environments are discouraged from developing critical thinking skills

Also homeschooling can’t help

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u/AldoRaine-1 8h ago

If you think about it, they land on polar opposite sides of the spectrum: critical thinking is to take a puzzle and put it together piece by piece, forming a larger more cohesive picture.

Belief is having a single red puzzle piece and the person holding the box says "what you are looking at is a blue sailboat", and saying "yep, this IS a blue boat", even when the only indication you could have otherwise (your red puzzle piece) doesn't support their statement, at all.

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u/Cent1234 6h ago

Yup. "Faith" is defined as 'belief without evidence.' But when the evidence contradicts your belief, 'faith' becomes 'belief despite evidence.'

To her dying day, my grandmother, raised Catholic, genuinely believed that men have one fewer rib than women, despite the fact that at any point in her seventy some-odd years, she could have simply counted her own ribs, then counted her husband's.