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Atheists and Agnostics Are More Reflective than Religious Believers: Four Empirical Studies and a Meta-Analysis

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  • Gordon Pennycook
  • Robert M Ross
  • Derek J Koehler
  • Jonathan A Fugelsang

Abstract

Individual differences in the mere willingness to think analytically has been shown to predict religious disbelief. Recently, however, it has been argued that analytic thinkers are not actually less religious; rather, the putative association may be a result of religiosity typically being measured after analytic thinking (an order effect). In light of this possibility, we report four studies in which a negative correlation between religious belief and performance on analytic thinking measures is found when religious belief is measured in a separate session. We also performed a meta-analysis on all previously published studies on the topic along with our four new studies (N = 15,078, k = 31), focusing specifically on the association between performance on the Cognitive Reflection Test (the most widely used individual difference measure of analytic thinking) and religious belief. This meta-analysis revealed an overall negative correlation (r) of -.18, 95% CI [-.21, -.16]. Although this correlation is modest, self-identified atheists (N = 133) scored 18.7% higher than religiously affiliated individuals (N = 597) on a composite measure of analytic thinking administered across our four new studies (d = .72). Our results indicate that the association between analytic thinking and religious disbelief is not caused by a simple order effect. There is good evidence that atheists and agnostics are more reflective than religious believers.

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  • Gordon Pennycook & Robert M Ross & Derek J Koehler & Jonathan A Fugelsang, 2016. "Atheists and Agnostics Are More Reflective than Religious Believers: Four Empirical Studies and a Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0153039
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153039
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anna J Finley & David Tang & Brandon J Schmeichel, 2015. "Revisiting the Relationship between Individual Differences in Analytic Thinking and Religious Belief: Evidence That Measurement Order Moderates Their Inverse Correlation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-10, September.
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    4. Da Silva, Sergio & Matsushita, Raul & Seifert, Guilherme & De Carvalho, Mateus, 2015. "Atheists Score Higher on Cognitive Reflection Tests," MPRA Paper 68451, University Library of Munich, Germany.
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    1. Souza, Tatiene C. & Cribari–Neto, Francisco, 2018. "Intelligence and religious disbelief in the United States," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 48-57.
    2. Gordon Pennycook & James Allan Cheyne & Derek J. Koehler & Jonathan A. Fugelsang, 2020. "On the belief that beliefs should change according to evidence: Implications for conspiratorial, moral, paranormal, political, religious, and science beliefs," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 15(4), pages 476-498, July.
    3. Janhavi Ajit Vaingankar & Niyanta Choudhary & Siow Ann Chong & Fiona Devi Siva Kumar & Edimansyah Abdin & Saleha Shafie & Boon Yiang Chua & Rob M. van Dam & Mythily Subramaniam, 2021. "Religious Affiliation in Relation to Positive Mental Health and Mental Disorders in a Multi-Ethnic Asian Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-16, March.
    4. Clinton Sanchez & Brian Sundermeier & Kenneth Gray & Robert J Calin-Jageman, 2017. "Direct replication of Gervais & Norenzayan (2012): No evidence that analytic thinking decreases religious belief," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-8, February.
    5. Brandts, Jordi & Busom, Isabel & Lopez-Mayan, Cristina & Panadés, Judith, 2022. "Dispelling misconceptions about economics," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Jastrzębski, Jan & Chuderski, Adam, 2022. "Analytic thinking outruns fluid reasoning in explaining rejection of pseudoscience, paranormal, and conspiracist beliefs," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    7. repec:cup:judgdm:v:15:y:2020:i:4:p:476-498 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Ângela Leite & Ana Ramires & Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis & Hélder Fernando Pedrosa e Sousa, 2019. "Who Is Concerned about Terrorist Attacks? A Religious Profile," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-16, November.
    9. Das, Aniruddha, 2022. "Religious attendance and global cognitive function: A fixed-effects cross-lagged panel modeling study of older U.S. adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    10. Suzanne Hoogeveen & Julia M. Haaf & Joseph A. Bulbulia & Robert M. Ross & Ryan McKay & Sacha Altay & Theiss Bendixen & Renatas Berniūnas & Arik Cheshin & Claudio Gentili & Raluca Georgescu & Will M. G, 2022. "The Einstein effect provides global evidence for scientific source credibility effects and the influence of religiosity," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(4), pages 523-535, April.
    11. Dürlinger, Florian & Fries, Jonathan & Yanagida, Takuya & Pietschnig, Jakob, 2023. "Religiosity does not prevent cognitive declines: Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    12. repec:sae:envval:v:28:y:2019:i:6:p:715-739 is not listed on IDEAS

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