Intelligence and religiosity: schools of thought

Defining Intelligence and religiosity

In order to address this topic, first intelligence and religiosity must be defined. One definition of intelligence is “A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not a narrow academic skill, or test-taking ability. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings”  (Gottfredson, Linda S. 1997). In addition, intelligence may include aspects of our personality and curiosity, the latter of which may play a role in scientific literacy.

Religion is delineated several different ways and I have defined this several times in previous articles; for the purposes of this writing, religion is “The service and worship of God or the supernatural :  commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance;  a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices” (https://drshellblog.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/definition-and-brief-description-of-five-common-terms/) and the degree to which an individual practices or believes in doctrinal knowledge may be an expression of religiosity.

The research has repeatedly demonstrated a negative correlation between religiosity and intelligence, which has yet to be explained. Numerous hypotheses abound with varying degrees of supporting evidence. This is a summary of the research in this arena.

Religion and intelligence negative correlations

In a meta analysis, Zuckerman and colleagues reviewed 63 studies and it was determined that over 85% revealed a negative correlation between religiosity and intelligence. Religiosity can be a measurement of how often individuals attend religious ceremonies or as determined by questionnaires assessing religious belief; both methods used have been consistently negatively associated with cognitive ability, which has indicated that individuals who are more religious tend to have lower intelligence. This association was more pronounced in college students and the general population than for children, and also for those with religious beliefs than with religious behavior.

Plausible reasons cited for this include that more intelligent people are less conformist and are thereby more likely to reject dogmatic ideology; they are more likely to adopt analytic as opposed to intuitive thinking which has been revealed to undermine religious beliefs, and more intelligent people adopt compensatory control, self-regulation, self-enhancement, and secure attachment which are more common characteristics in more intelligent individuals, who would likely have less need for religious beliefs and would be less likely to espouse them.  (Zuckerman, Silberman, & Hall, 2013).

Although there is currently no data to support if religiosity causes social problems or the other way around, there is a correlation between religiosity, poverty, and a host of other social issues, which may also account for lack of intellectual capacity taken together, and which are potentially confounding variables.  An additional factor to Zuckerman’s proposals might be heritability in particular in the US, where “a number of emigrants from Europe went to the United States because of their strong religious beliefs, so it may be that these beliefs have been transmitted as a cultural and even genetic legacy to subsequent generations. Parent–child correlations for religious belief are quite high at 0.64 (fathers–sons) and 0.69 (mothers–daughters). It has been found that religious belief has a significant heritability of around 0.40–0.50, so it could be that a number of religious emigrants from Europe had the genetic disposition for religious beliefs” and taken with heritability factors in intelligence may be a contributing factor. (Richard Lynn, John Harvey , Helmuth Nyborg, 2008)

In a study on IQ across countries of varying religiosity, researchers determined that regardless of culture, “there is a negative correlation between IQ and religious belief. [Researchers] have reviewed considerable evidence for this negative relationship among individuals in the United States and Europe and have added a new data set confirming this.” (Richard Lynn, John Harvey , Helmuth Nyborg, 2008)

One area to search for answers in the religion-intelligence discrepancy is to look to evolution. The Savanna-IQ Interaction hypothesizes that the “theory of the evolution of general intelligence suggests that more intelligent individuals may be more likely to acquire and espouse evolutionarily novel values and preferences than less intelligent individuals, but that general intelligence may have no effect on the acquisition and espousal of evolutionarily familiar.” When the associated variables are studied, such as liberalism, this turns out to be the case in certain domains.  From an evolutionary perspective, liberalism and atheism promote novel experiences and curiosity; religiosity promotes sexual exclusivity and less risk taking behaviors. (Satoshi Kanazawa, 2010)

Age, science literacy, and personality factors

There may be an age-related issue associated with at least some of the studies, which have documented some interesting findings. It’s been previously cited that the elderly cohorts who attended church more regularly had less cognitive decline, which has been believed to be the result of social engagement. A study in 2014 in the UK failed to “replicate the finding, discovered in all previous studies, that more frequent attendance at religious ceremonies is associated with healthier cognitive aging. “

According to the study, religiosity was always negatively correlated with intelligence, but not with age related cognitive decline, such as is seen with neurologic illnesses and benign senility.  The religiosity in the study participants had no effect on change in cognition across the lifespan; however, “no research to date has found any evidence that individuals who hold stronger religious beliefs will be protected against cognitive decline.”

The researchers also replicated prior studies that have nearly always included younger participants, and tentatively suggest that this may reflect higher religiosity in older study cohorts, which was an issue that was not previously, possibly not sufficiently addressed in earlier studies. (Stuart J. Ritchie, Alan J. Gow, Ian J. Deary, 2014)

In evaluating science literacy, in a US study, the findings that “relatively few [Christians] pursue higher education and careers in science” compared to the percentages in the general population, and for reasons that where primarily due to “stereotypes about Christians being less competent in science than other groups”. The researchers found that Christians in the US were less interested in science, less identified with science, and underperformed on scientific tasks as compared to non-Christians. In addition, removing the stereotypes removed the performance differences, suggesting, “Christians’ awareness of the negative societal stereotypes about their group’s scientific competence may be partially responsible for the underperformance and underrepresentation of Christians in scientific fields.” (Kimberly Rios, et al, 2015) although employment in a scientific field is not IQ, science literacy may be a factor in the highly religious United States and may be reflective of an aspect of intellectual capacity.

In order to study personality traits, in another study, researchers measured positive attitudes such as cheerfulness, self-efficacy, gratitude, religion, and hope in gifted college students who were two or more years ahead of their peers. The students did better “academically, were able to establish lasting friendships with older classmates and had high academic achievement, and showed positive psychological coping” after participation in the program.

Apparently, personal achievement and intelligence may be related, and may include “accomplishing and integrating these areas results in more productive activities and a more enjoyable life, integration of physical, cognitive, and social, emotional functioning, enhancement of social relationships which may benefit the individual and help [them] overcome psychosocial and environmental problems”; this does not discount any previous research on the issue of religiosity; however, this has not previously been tied to personality traits or academic achievement.  ( Boazman, Janette K.; Sayler, Michael F.; Easton-Brooks, Donald) Perhaps there are religious individuals who do better academically than their cohorts due to personality factors.

Intolerance and intelligence

Increased religiosity is associated with rigid boundaries indicating a moral and behavioral inflexibility, which can include relational intolerance, intolerance of ambiguity, and dogmatism, as well as ethnocentrism and authoritarianism.   These characteristics are more common in both intolerant individuals, as well as in fundamentalism in both believers and non-believers, and those who show prejudice toward out-groups. Strict beliefs, intolerance, and prejudice are not isolated and without repercussions, possibly with consequences to wellbeing and to intellectual and academic capacity. The effects of lower cognition on prejudice or vice versa can also mediate conservative beliefs.

One may hold prejudiced beliefs but maintain behavioral control toward the negatively stereotyped out-group, although this is probably the exception to the rule.  Religious groups in particular share norms, values, traditions, and metaphysics, which coordinate and justify collective action for good, ill, or neutral achievements. Religion is a means to identify socially, “providing a worldview in a self-affirming and existential anxiety reducing” social construct. (Russell Powell and Steve Clarke, 2013)

There is evidence of a negative association between cognitive abilities and prejudice, such as lower abstract reasoning skills, verbal and non-verbal abilities, and general intelligence with increasing prejudice. This does not address religion per se , although fundamentalism in many forms is associated with out-group mentality, and which may include religious ideology in some extreme cases. (Kristof Dhont, Gordon Hodson, 2014)

Discussion

Science is a fluid way of thinking, of following evidence without preconceptions, and without dogmatic ideology. It’s a way of asking questions with an openness, curiosity, and excitement about where the information will lead; ideally, there is no fear or anxiety related to evidence.

We perceive threats and form beliefs to some degree through our amygdala; it’s no surprise that intelligence may be affected by out-group mentality and religiosity as well as other beliefs on this spectrum, possibly from genetic factors, and that these may be connected constructs.

It’s also possible that despite indoctrination in more religious countries such as theocracies and in the United States, more intelligent people are capable of belief revision to overcome the effects, and which was not mentioned specifically in the studies.  Overcoming indoctrination is usually a process that requires substantial cognitive effort, potentially overwhelming social and occupational consequences, and should not be discounted as a possibility for the discrepancy in intelligence.