Tradition has always been the subject of many stories, songs and legends, better known as folklore. Folklore is an integral part of everyday life. Similar to tradition or folklore, religion has a big impact on people’s lives. Because of that, many studies in the past and nowadays are examining the factors affecting human faith.
A lot of psychological research in the past were very determined about the fact that the more intelligent people are less religious and vice versa. This means that if someone is more familiar with the physical world and science he will not believe in supernatural and paranormal phenomena. For example, black cat brings bad luck or number 13 is unlucky, are the statements that skeptics call superstition and paranormal and religious believers literally believe them.
In a 2013 meta-analysis of 63 scientific studies about IQ and religiosity, led by Professor Miron Zuckerman, a negative relation between intelligence and religiosity was found in 53 and a positive relation in the remaining ten. Controlling for other factors, they can only confidently show strong negative correlation between intelligence and religiosity among American Protestants. The meta-analysis discussed three possible explanations:
First, intelligent people are less likely to conform and thus, are more likely to resist religious dogma. Second, intelligent people tend to adopt an analytic (as opposed to intuitive) thinking style, which has been shown to undermine religious beliefs. Third, Intelligent people may have less need for religious beliefs and practices, as some of the functions of religiosity can be given by intelligence instead. Such functions include the presentation of a sense that the world is orderly and predictable, a sense of personal control and self-regulation and a sense of enhancing self-esteem and belongingness. They point out that both religion and intelligence contribute to development of people, only in two different ways and their explanation is much more sophisticated than previous ones.
Current research, such as the online study, by Marjaana Lindeman and Annika Svedholm-Häkkinen of the University of Helsinki, involved 258 participants and examined how physical-world skills and knowledge predict religious and paranormal beliefs. Lindeman and Svedholm-Häkkinen have collected a large amount of different data, such as data about religious and paranormal beliefs, physical world skills and interests (systemizing), mechanical abilities, intuitive physics skills etc.
All variables that were included in the research had an influence on religious and paranormal beliefs. Those variables were: low systemizing, poor intuitive physics skills, poor mechanical ability, poor mental rotation, low school grades in mathematics and physics, poor common knowledge about physical and biological phenomena, intuitive and analytical thinking styles. But, at the end, the study showed that the strongest predictors of the beliefs were overall physical capability and intuitive thinking style.
This research concluded that in a world ruled by science and technology, only nonscientific ways of thinking, such as intuitive thinking style, are resistant to formal instruction and capable of making sensible choices.
No study so far has given concrete and precise data on these relations. It remains to be seen whether future research may help to understand the relationship between intuitive thinking and supernatural beliefs in greater depth and the general relationship between IQ and religiosity.
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