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Cognitive biases explain religious belief, paranormal belief, and belief in life’s purpose
Abstract
Cognitive theories of religion have postulated several cognitive biases that predispose human minds towards religious belief. However, to date, these hypotheses have not been tested simultaneously and in relation to each other, using an individual difference approach. We used a path model to assess the extent to which several interacting cognitive tendencies, namely mentalizing, mind body dualism, teleological thinking, and anthropomorphism, as well as cultural exposure to religion, predict belief in God, paranormal beliefs and belief in life's purpose. Our model, based on two independent samples (N=492 and N=920) found that the previously known relationship between mentalizing and belief is mediated by individual differences in dualism, and to a lesser extent by teleological thinking. Anthropomorphism was unrelated to religious belief, but was related to paranormal belief. Cultural exposure to religion (mostly Christianity) was negatively related to anthropomorphism, and was unrelated to any of the other cognitive tendencies. These patterns were robust for both men and women, and across at least two ethnic identifications. The data were most consistent with a path model suggesting that mentalizing comes first, which leads to dualism and teleology, which in turn lead to religious, paranormal, and life's-purpose beliefs. Alternative theoretical models were tested but did not find empirical support.
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“Rather, rates of belief in paranormal and otherwise supramundane but non-religious phenomena such as ghosts, UFOs and other mythical creatures remain as high as ever (Baker and Draper 2010; Persinger 2001; Willard and Norenzayan 2013).”
From Cultural Evolution of Religion, Spirituality and Ritual: Impacts On Human Cooperation (2024) · cites this paper as Willard and Norenzayan 2013
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“…de la facultad comparativa de las ideas y la selección abierta de opciones que resulten más coherentes con la intencionalidad del sujeto respecto al objeto de indagación (González-García, Tudela, & Ruz, 2015; Mata, Schubert, & B. Ferreira, 2014; Perry et al., 2015; Willard & Norenzayan, 2013).”
BackgroundOurs is not to reason why: Information seeking across domains.
Vonk, J. M., Brothers, B., & Zeigler‐Hill, V. (2020) · Psychology of Religion and Spirituality · doi:10.1037/rel0000304 · Cited by 2
THE BOOST EFFECT: CAN A COVID-19 INFECTION INCREASE PERCEIVED MEANING IN LIFE?
Dahlén, M., & Thorbjørnsen, H. (2021) · Social Inquiry into Well-Being · doi:10.13165/sd-21-19-2-04 · Cited by 2
Does belief in free will influence biological motion perception?
Peng, W., Cracco, E., Troje, N. F., & Braß, M. (2022) · Psychological Research · doi:10.1007/s00426-022-01704-9 · Cited by 2
“With regard to dualism, previous research has shown that belief in dualism is strongly associated with paranormal beliefs (Willard & Norenzayan, 2013) and that believing in the paranormal is associated with an increased propensity to falsely report seeing biological motion and therefore with a…”
MethodGorgol, J., Łowicki, P., & Stolarski, M. (2023) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0284787 · Cited by 5
Ishii, T. (2017) · Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science · doi:10.5178/lebs.2017.61 · Cited by 2
“The EQ is used to measure the ability to infer and understand the mental states of others and to react appropriately to them in everyday life (e.g., Norenzayan et al., 2012; Willard & Norenzayan, 2013).”
BackgroundMethodThe Cognitive Underpinnings of Ideological Thinking
Zmigrod, L. (2019) · Apollo (University of Cambridge) · doi:10.17863/cam.44894 · Cited by 2
When Giving Justifies Gambling: Theory and Experimental Evidence on Prosocial Risk-takingPreprint
Ballicu, G., Atzori, F., & Pelligra, V. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5350667 · Cited by 2
Religion as a Testing Ground for Cognitive Science
Shtulman, A. (2022) · Journal for the Cognitive Science of Religion · doi:10.1558/jcsr.20641 · Cited by 3
“Consequently, this claim has resonated not only with scholars seeking to explain how we reason about religious concepts like gods (Willard & Norenzayan, 2013), souls (Preston et al., 2013), the afterlife (Bering, 2006), and spirit possession (Cohen & Barrett, 2008), but also with scholars seeking…”
BackgroundDhanis, H., Potheegadoo, J., Faivre, N., Hara, M., Bernasconi, F., & Blanke, O. (2026) · Cortex · doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2026.03.018 · Cited by 1
Metadata
- Authors
- Willard, A. K., & Norenzayan, A.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Willard, Aiyana K.
- ORCID
- Willard, Aiyana K.
- Venue
- Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-11
- Volume
- 129
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 379-391
- ISSN
- 0010-0277 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2149140482
- Cited by
- 300
- References
- 94
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 26 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 9
- FWCI
- 17.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Study and Philosophy of Religion
- Keywords
- cognitive biases, religious beliefs, supernatural beliefs, mentalization, mind-body dualism, teleological thinking, anthropomorphism, Christianity, individual differences, mediation
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Canada, Cognition, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Psychological, Parapsychology, Religion and Psychology, United States, Young Adult, Theory of Mind
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