| Summary: | Religious belief is
a topic of longstanding interest to psychological science, but the psychology
of religious disbelief is a relative newcomer. One prominently discussed model
is analytic atheism, wherein cognitive reflection, as measured with the
Cognitive Reflection Test, overrides religious intuitions and instruction.
Consistent with this model, performance-based measures of cognitive reflection
predict religious disbelief in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich,
and Democratic) samples. However, the generality of analytic atheism remains
unknown. Drawing on a large global sample (N = 3461) from 13 religiously,
demographically, and culturally diverse societies, we find that analytic
atheism as usually assessed is in fact quite fickle cross-culturally, appearing
robustly ony in aggregate analyses and in three individual countries. The
results provide additional evidence for culture’s effects on core
beliefs.
|
|---|