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from the "number-of-the-beast"-is-natural,-whole,-rational,-real,-AND-imaginary dept.
Religious beliefs are not linked to intuition or rational thinking, according to new research by the universities of Coventry and Oxford. Previous studies have suggested people who hold strong religious beliefs are more intuitive and less analytical, and when they think more analytically their religious beliefs decrease.
But new research, by academics from Coventry University's Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science and neuroscientists and philosophers at Oxford University, suggests that is not the case, and that people are not 'born believers'. The study -- which included tests on pilgrims taking part in the famous Camino de Santiago and a brain stimulation experiment -- found no link between intuitive/analytical thinking, or cognitive inhibition (an ability to suppress unwanted thoughts and actions), and supernatural beliefs.
Instead, the academics conclude that other factors, such as upbringing and socio-cultural processes, are more likely to play a greater role in religious beliefs.
[Abstract]: Supernatural Belief Is Not Modulated by Intuitive Thinking Style or Cognitive Inhibition
Would you agree with this conclusion or do you believe that there is something else that influences people's religious beliefs ?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MrGuy on Thursday November 09 2017, @07:52PM (2 children)
Wander into Las Vegas (my favorite lab for irrational thinking in a fundamentally rational world) and you'll see otherwise-reasonably-rational people convinced that a particular table is "hot" or "cold." People convinced that breaking out a fresh deck of cards will somehow stop a losing streak. People who believe rules like a certain team is "due for a win," giving them a greater-than-normal chance of winning.
If you want to argue that the casino is the one "pushing" these beliefs (which I find pretty questionable), as a sports fan about a rally cap, or a lucky jersey. Or, heck, on Wall Street, talk to a "technical trader" about price patterns.
There are plenty of places where people develop a non-rational belief that something external to them is somehow affected by something not obviously related. These don't have to be taught. People are pretty good at coming up with these superstitions on their own.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Thursday November 09 2017, @09:29PM (1 child)
Patterns. We're surrounded by patterns. Easily perceived ordered ones like crystals, and now with more insight, molecules and atoms and fields. Moderately ordered / disordered ones like clouds, and weather, and even climate.
Our minds like patterns. Observe your own feelings when you observe order; if you're like most people, you'll be pleased on one level or another.
Religion almost always asserts that there are very large patterns in play above our level of control, and that those patterns have direct meaning for us. Meanings about things we take as significant: life, death, fortune, folly, good, and evil. Etc.
IMHO, that's the heart of the general affection a very large people have for theism. It takes significant effort to discern the patterns we can justifiably claim to be real, and isolate and discard the ones that have as evidence no more than wishful thinking. That work is hard for a pattern-inclined person, and socially, it's often a matter of moderate to extreme friction. That in turn leads to the assertion and subsequent acceptance of patterns over and over again, generation after generation.
Also, with specific reference to the issue of the difficulty of it all, and somewhat tired of people calling the theists "dumb" and the like, at one point, I wrote this [fyngyrz.com] in a fit of mild annoyance.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday November 10 2017, @03:48AM
Indeed, experiments show that our mind tends to make up patterns where there are none (the experiment involved buttons top press to get a lamp light up; in truth the lamp was lit or not randomly, independent of which button you pressed). All people in the experiment "found" rules on which buttons to press; when told there were no rules, many were convinced they discovered a regularity even the experimenters didn't know about. Truth was, the buttons were not even connected.
Sorry, can't give a link as it is something I've read a long time ago in some book, and I can't find a link on web search (maybe it's just my search fu is lacking).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.