What causes religious beliefs? Heart or maybe head? In other words, what caused people's belief in God or gods - intuition or reason? The answer may surprise you: New research shows that religious beliefs can be explained by cultural education.
These findings challenge the standard approach of psychologists, who are accustomed to thinking that religious beliefs appear in people at the level of intuition.
“Rather, psychologists should reconsider their understanding of the emergence of faith as a natural or intuitive process and instead focus on cultural and social learning that generates ideas for the existence of supernatural forces,” the researchers write in their work.
Analytical thinking and belief in gods
Promotional video:
To explore the generally accepted idea of the relationship between religion and intuition, as well as the less common theory that belief in gods can be related to reason, scientists conducted three experiments. In one of them, 89 pilgrims who took part in the famous Camino de Santiago, or the Pilgrimage Way of St. James, had to pass a cognitive test. They answered questions about the strength of their religious or spiritual beliefs and the time they spent on the pilgrimage. In addition, they passed a series of tests that assessed their logical and intuitive thinking levels.
The results of the tests passed showed no connection between religious beliefs and intuitive thinking. The researchers found that there was no connection between beliefs about the existence of supernatural forces and analytical thinking.
The connection between intuition and religious beliefs
The second study involved 37 people from the United Kingdom. They had to try to solve mathematical puzzles designed to measure intuition, as well as assess the level of their belief in the supernatural. The researchers found that, as in the experiment with the pilgrims, this test found no connection between the level of intuitive thinking and religious beliefs.
Brain study
Finally, the researchers examined the brain itself. Previous research has shown that strong analytical thinking can inhibit belief in the supernatural. Moreover, studies using brain imaging have shown that the right inferior frontal gyrus, located in the frontal lobe of the brain, plays a role in this process.
For example, a small 2012 brain imaging study (which appeared in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience) showed that this region of the brain is more active in people who are not inclined to religious beliefs.
Given these findings, the scientists who were working on the new study attached electrodes to the heads of 90 volunteers, activating the right inferior frontal gyrus. The activation resulted in cognitive inhibition, but did not change the participants' level of belief in the supernatural. The results show that there is no connection between cognitive inhibition (usually caused by analytical thinking, but in this case electrodes) and supernatural thoughts.
These results show that it would be wrong to call belief in gods intuitive. The researchers stated that the spirituality or religiosity of people is likely to develop based on their upbringing, culture and education.
“Religious belief is likely to be related to culture, not some primitive intuition,” said Miguel Farias, professor of psychology and head of research at Oxford University, in a statement.
Nature versus nurture
“These results negate the dominant idea of the origin of religious beliefs,” said Nathan Kofnas, a doctoral student in philosophy at Oxford University who was not involved in the study. The new study poses a great challenge to the notion that religion is the result of people's abandonment of analytical thinking.
However, Kofnas also notes that this study should not be considered the ultimate truth. The work of other scholars shows that religiosity is hereditary. Previous research on twins has shown that, at least in Americans, genes tend to have a greater influence on the emergence of religious beliefs than the environment, regardless of whether a person believes in God in adulthood. This means that there must be some kind of psychological mechanism that would vary among people and was associated with different levels of religiosity.
Why are atheists smarter than religious people?
According to research in the United States, atheists are generally smarter than religious people. The reason for this phenomenon is not completely clear, but it is quite possible that more reasonable people are more likely to abandon religion after researching this issue.
Most likely, social and educational factors play an important role in the emergence of a person's religious beliefs, but basic cognitive dispositions can also play a role.
The results of the new study were published on November 8 in Scientific Reports.
Anna Pismenna