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 An exhibit of Rodin's "The Thinker."
April 27th, 2012
04:01 PM ET
Study: Analytic thinking can decrease religious beliefBy Becky Perlow, CNN (CNN) - When was the last time you sat down and questioned your decision to believe in God? According to a new study, that simple act could decrease your religious conviction – even if you’re a devout believer. In the study, published Friday in the journal Science, researchers from Canada’s University of British Columbia used subtle stimuli to encourage analytical thinking. Results from the study found that analytical thinking could decrease religious belief. “Religious belief is intuitive - and analytical thinking can undermine intuitive thinking,” said Ara Norenzayan, co-author of the study. “So when people are encouraged to think analytically, it can block intuitive thinking.” CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Some of the more than 650 Canadian and American participants in the study were shown images of artwork that encouraged analytic thinking, while another group was shown images that were not intended to produce such thinking. One of the images used to trigger analytic thinking was of Rodin’s statue “The Thinker.” A previous study showed that such images improved performance on tests that indicate analytic thinking. In addition to the artwork images, the religion study used other stimuli to promote analytical thinking. After exposure to such stimuli, researchers gauged participants’ religious beliefs through a series of questions. Subjects who had performed analytical tasks were more likely to experience a decrease in religious belief than those who were not involved in such tasks. That included devout believers. “There’s much more instability to religious belief than we recognize,” said Norenzayan, noting that life’s circumstances and experiences, from traumatic events to joyous occasions, can lead people to become more or less religious. “Religion is such an important part of the world and we have so little understanding of it,” he added. “So regardless of what you think about religion, it’s important to understand it because it’s so important in the world.” Norenzayan is quick to mention that the experiments did not turn devout believers into total atheists. But he speculated that if people habitually think analytically, like scientists or lawyers do, it would lead to less religious belief in the long run. Robert McCauley, director of the Center for Mind, Brain and Culture at Emory University, and author of "Why religion is natural and science is not," found the study particularly interesting because he thought it was difficult to make even a minimal change in religious belief. “It’s not likely you would argue someone out of a religious belief very often because they don’t hold those beliefs on argumentative or reflective grounds in the first place,” said McCauley, who believes religious beliefs rely primarily on intuitive thinking. Analytical thinking alone does not necessarily lead to a decrease in religious belief, emphasized Norenzayan. “There’s a combination of factors [as to] why people become believers or nonbelievers - this is only one piece of the puzzle,” Norenzayan said, explaining that his team doesn’t think analytical thinking is superior to intuitive thinking. “It makes the story we need to tell about religion and religious belief all the more complicated,” said McCauley. “That’s what great scientific research does – ask more interesting questions.” soundoff (3,468 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Next »
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Calling blind faith "intuitive thinking" is somewhere between malicious disingenuity and bald-faced lying.
The article doesn't mention "Blind Faith". I fear the only one being disingenuous here is you.
My Revelation to all Humanists
I feel a compelling want to tell you about some verses in Gospel scripture. Is it not written to above all things to seek firstly the "Kingdom of God". This said, have you ascribed to doing so? Where does one look to or towards in order to find that which we are told to seek as scripture does declare one to do?
Mathew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
The Gospels have within its' writings their precepts as to just where the Kingdom of God is located! Do you know of the whereabouts and exact location of God's Kingdom Domains? I've searched the Gospel writings and have found a single verse telling all who have found it as to the true and literal location of God's Kingdomly Domains!
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is inside you.
I take Luke 17:21 quite literally and so should all who believe in One God and His One Son of perhaps oodles upon oodles of otherly Sons and Daughters too numerous to really expound upon! Christ is special because he was born to take upon his being the sins of those who were and then were also and of times yet to come! God's Kingdoms being inside us and within our ownliness bodies can also be associated with another verse of scripture ,,,,,
1Corinthians 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, [ye are] God's building.
The just above verse does tell much more than just glimpsing over it could proclude! Our being labourers with God may well seem to give us all an equal footing with God and his aspirations for our betterment's sakes! His being our husbandry may well regard God as having a firm footing in our conceptions of childbirthing beyond mere genetic understandings! But in the aboveness verse, the very understanding that we or our bodies are God's buildings may well inspire one to disavow such a claim due one's foresightedness sakes and lacking of rationalisms' of credible resources. Yet, as I see things, we, our bodies are not only God established and God created buildings for the benefits of the Godly who reside inside of us, but are for our benefits for learning and understanding the precepts of "Fractal Cosmologies"!
We have seen that which our bodies are made up of and they are of cellularized structures not "unlike" stellarized structures in outer space places! These stellarized structures are yet a work-in-progress and our body-like buildings are a progress in the works!
These words are revelations of my Faith as to my Godly understandings regarding the Kingdom Domains of God, his Sons and his Daughters and all forms and mannerisms of Life-ever-lasting principles and principalities of progressives!
Why did Jesus use simple language and simple stories? Because he wanted to communicate, not jibby jabber all over the page like you're doing. So, try again.
The next Evolutionary step,,,,,,,,,,,, ,.,,..
I'd hate to be your servile precognitive child provided you want one or still are one!
Hugh? Are you trying to be smart or do you just play on TV?
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!
That’s really hilarious! In fact the real truth is that factual thinking with an open mind opens the door to God and his wonderful deeds all around us..
If factual thinking leads to belief in god, then where are the facts to support that belief? The bottom line is that belief in a god is inherently UNfactual and IRrational. That is why it is called "faith."
Truth,
Please list ONE place in the Bible where it encourages people to have open minds and question everything.
Luke 24:45: Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures....
Of course, he may have been saying that he got angry with their intelligence and slammed a Bible into their skull.
Still no answer.
Well, jeeesh, what do you want? Logic and reason?
I suspect that the reason is that many people who are religious haven't actually read up on the tenets of their faith. They are faced with quandary or question about their religion and instead of actually looking to see if someone has answered or addressed it, decided that said religion does not provide the answer. This is just lazy.
The foundation of every religion in the world is to make our life better not to complicate it. Over the centuries agents of religion have made religion really complicated and it is up to an individual to accept how much religion he or she wants to tolerate or accept.
OK, there is a god but not the white haired old man sitting above keeping notes on people. I believe in a universal consciousness, maybe called the force. But the the fairy tale stories of most religions only breed hate and confusion. More people have been killed and injured in the name of religion than any natural cause. It has to be faith based because it doesn't make sense.
Ancient aliens as gods? That theory is something to analyze. It makes sense and answers a lot of questions.
Paleoconservative,
Good to be able to ask someone with a 142 IQ some simple questions:
Why do so many Christian HYPOCRITES pick on gays when there are FAR FAR MORE Christians who commit ADULTERY by divorcing and remarrying, according to the Bible?
Why are so many Christians delusional enough to think the Bible actually talks about abortion?
Why must Athiests be so insulting?
Because they have no argument to win.
When was the last time I sat down and questioned my decision to believe in God? It was in 1991. I realized that if a god created us in his own image (meaning we were special), he wouldn't need preachers, priests, rabbis, or mullahs. Everyone would KNOW he existed.
See, this is what I was talking about. People don't actually look into the tenets of their faith when they have a question. Instead of looking for an answer they conclude there isn't one and just toss it.
Well, then, Raz, maybe you can GIVE us the "answer". You can, can't you?
Depends on your religion. In Catholicism there is a concept called original sin. A great deal has been written on it. Look it up.
The only good part of the study was that it wasted Canadian tax dollars. If you need a study to conclude that theists are intellectual midgets, you are not much above them in that department.
It's one thing to say religion is not for you. I respect that.
But I'd like to remind the commentators on this message board that ridiculing people of faith for "believing in a fairy tale", or praying to "an imaginary friend", is just disrespectful. And you're not really adding anything to the discussion.
If you want respect, maybe stopping beliveing in a fairy tale might help you.
@Steven
You said, "But I'd like to remind the commentators on this message board that ridiculing people of faith for "believing in a fairy tale", or praying to "an imaginary friend", is just disrespectful."
While I respect your right to believe as you see fit, the beliefs you hold deserve no respect just because you have the right to hold them. Beliefs need to be evaluated and challenged. If they are valid, they will stand up to the scrutiny. Most (and I'm being generous here) religious beliefs don't.
Without a single shred of evidence to support the notion of any god, they are equally likely to exist as all other mythical and imaginary creatures.
You said, "And you're not really adding anything to the discussion."
It may not give you a warm and fuzzy feeling, but it certainly adds to the discussion. The more it is pointed out that there really is no fundamental difference between belief in gods and belief in the Tooth Fairy, and the inability of believers to refute that, the clearer it becomes how infantile most religious beliefs are.
I doubt I will convince many believers, but I bet it has an impact on those on the fence.
Christians can be such pigs.
I wish. Pigs are tasty and smart. Then again, maybe I'm being rather unfair, I've not eaten a christian.
People that can't think need God. Not a news flash and not a bad thing.
Disagree. People who are human need to be loved and "God" plays a part in that.
I think I need God.
I stand corrected.
Among other things, this study concludes that the human brain resorts to "intuition" when not engaged in logical analytical thinking.
Buddhist don't believe in God; they believe all things are one and to separate something outside of that is to belief in all the opposites that a belief must carry: if there is love, there must be hate; if there is God, then there must be no God or the devil. To suffer is to believe that we are separate from all things and that "God" is not us.
Sounds a little intellectual, but it's a good belief!
I believe in nothing.
I believe in everything.
Sooo. . . .what do they teach about all the millions of suffering and dying babies throughout the world?
The same thing that Jesus taught, which is to get off your computer typing butt and save them.
So an "all powerful god" isn't able to save millions of babies "he" created to begin with?
Yep, and that's why Buddhism make so much sense.
Gotcha, didn't I?
I choose to live in a universe with God and with consequences.
Prove me wrong.
God, I dare you to strike me down right now!
Still here. You're wrong.
Which is like physics that says there is a reaction for every action, which also insinuates that there may be a much more complicated universe with multi dimensions and parallel universes that make it truly hard to understand, so hard that you almost need "faith" to believe it's there.
oooh.
Be patient, Beatrix, you will be struck down.
"Now," is so relative.
Duh. . .everything has "consequences". Even taking a breath has "consequences".
@Ricky L
You said, "I choose to live in a universe with God and with consequences."
You have no choice regarding the universe you live in. You choose to believe the one you live in has a god.
You said, "Prove me wrong."
The burden of proof is really on you as you are the one postulating an entity for which there is no evidence. You don't even provide a reasonable narrative. But I respect your right to believe as you see fit, however irrational.
"Duh," Dee Cee, is the wind beneath your wings.
Happy landings.
Oh, my God. You didn't just say that, did you? Oh, yes, you did, you pathetic loser.
A universe with god is precisely one without consequences, for god itself can experience no consequences for its actions. Thus, any "consequence" that you trace back to god is without meaning or rationale. Nothing would change, for instance, if god were switched with devil. You'd still have to obey it. In fact, I am not sure which is which.
If my brain can think analytically or critically, then I will think it and use it.
I'm not sure the narrative coming out of this study accurately describes the variables they appear to have studied.
Man created God in His Own Image: ignorant, spiteful, full of hate and violence. Despise the other, and use your 'faith' as justification to rob your neighbor of his rights, his goods and his life. Look at India, Pakistan, the Middle East, Ireland... all the death and suffering cause by religion. Name a single war started by rational thought.
In Christianity, you are presented with at least 5 different "versions" of Jesus. 1.. The authoritarian sentiment, employed by the church for authority. 2.. The blodd sacrifice. 3. The revolutionary, opponent of the moneychangers. 4. The Buddhist 5.. The astronomical.astrotheological personification of Jesus as 'the sun'. All tied into one scripture. One can see how a little critical thinking would leave one to concluded there is an agenda to religion; thus the conclusion of this story.
New Testament is a counterfeit of the Old Testament, intended for the preservation of empire; and to serve as an assimilatory vehicle for an increasingly diverse population, including threat. Think the Roman Empire.
Conversely, Judaism was/is used as a counter cultural assimilatory function, for the slightly more honorable base intention of : Self Preservation.
This is not surprising. Religion thrives on blind faith and actively attempts to surpress analytic and critical thinking. There's a reason religion is built on faith: only with faith can someone believe that a book written by bronze-age goat herders is the infallible word of some sky fairy. Only with faith can someone believe in the supernatural or in a personal god, despite there never having been a SINGLE bit of evidence ever, aside from their aforementioned bronze-age book.
Ask a believer why they believe after presenting them with science that contradicts their little fairy tale, and they all just say: "I know there is a personal god because the Bible says so and I have faith that it is right! I have faith that there is a god so there must be a god! When I am singing about Jesus in church I feel happy, so I have faith that that is my god reaching down and touching my life!"
Without blind faith, there would be no religion.
It wold help your argument if you knew when the Bronze age was. The majority of religious texts were written in the Iron Age (including the Bible). Bronze age ended about 1200-1000 BC. Keep at it, you'll get it right eventually
Blind faith looks so foolish to unbelievers as yourself but think about it even you have to rely on blind faith! You have to blindly believe that your heart won't stop in the middle of the night. You have to believe that A meteor won't hit the earth randomly. You have to BELIEVE that there is no GOD! THAT IS BLIND FAITH!! You claim to have non but You rely on it so much!!!!
@Raz- don't confuse them with little things like facts. It hurts their little egos.
No, dear. I don't. YOU might, but you're hardly the norm.
@Raz
Do some research. There's evidence that much of the material and ideas in the Bible came from the Bronze age. It would help your argument if YOU knew what you were talking about.
@Rebel4Christ
No, I don't rely on blind faith for those things because I'm not a moron. Meteors don't hit earth randomly, there will be ample warning and meteors don't follow random paths. Hearts also do not randomly stop in the middle of the night. There are factors that lead to increased risk, but it is not random.
Good job guys, once again proving that theists are not exactly the most intelligent bunch of people.
Life itself depends on 'blind faith'....why else will you get out of bed in the morning if you don't have 'blind faith' that you'll make it through the day? Religion is just another aspect of life....there is no such thing as a non-believer. Non-delivers are usually called 'suicide victims'.....unless it is because you are a 'true believer'.
And I thought there was no evidence at all in the bible. Simply because a book describes something from the Bronze age, doesn't mean it's a Bronze age book. If so a book published yesterday on ancient Egypt would be a "Bronze age book".
Ha Patriarchae-
Yes there would be warnings if a meteor was going to hit the earth. Wait isn't that kind of like the warnings about Jesus's coming? There has been so many signs. Just look at the World today. We would rather save trees and rain forests but kill unborn babies!!! America is in bad shape and it's going to get worse!!
The funny thing is atheists have more faith than anyone yet they claim they don't believe in faith!