The divided mind of a disbeliever: Intuitive beliefs about nature as purposefully created among different groups of non-religious adults
Abstract
Do non-religious adults - despite their explicit disavowal of religious beliefs - have a tacit tendency to view nature as purposefully created by some being? This question was explored in three online studies using a speeded judgment procedure, which assessed disbelievers in two different Western cultures (United States and Finland). Despite strong performance on control trials, across all three studies non-religious individuals displayed a default bias to increasingly judge pictures of natural phenomena as "purposefully made by some being" under processing constraints. Personal beliefs in the supernatural agency of nature ("Gaia beliefs") consistently predicted this tendency. However, beliefs in nature as purposefully made by some being persisted even when such secular agency beliefs were controlled. These results suggest that the tendency to view nature as designed is rooted in evolved cognitive biases as well as cultural socialization.
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- Authors
- Järnefelt, E., Canfield, C. F., & Kelemen, D.
- Affiliations
- Boston University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Järnefelt, Elisa
- Venue
- Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2015-07
- Volume
- 140
- Pages
- 72-88
- ISSN
- 0010-0277 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2009999081
- Cited by
- 133
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 57.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Evolution and Science Education
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Keywords
- non-believers, supernatural agency, cognitive biases, cultural socialization, cognitive evolution, religious beliefs, cross-cultural comparison
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Culture, Female, Finland, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Religion and Psychology, Religion and Science, Thinking, United States, Intuition, Young Adult
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