Study: People Merge Supernatural & Scientific Beliefs When Reasoning With the Unknown

[wadjet]

People Merge Supernatural and Scientific Beliefs When Reasoning With the Unknown, Study Shows

In some ways that's kind of a "well no duh", but I also thought it was relevant to some of the discussions we've had recently.

"The standard assumption that scientific and religious explanations compete should be re-evaluated in light of substantial psychological evidence," Legare said.

:hdsk:

Like, seriously. Seriously? I was never aware that religion and science were "in competition, and that anyone who thought so - no matter which side of the argument they were on - was a closed-minded idiot.

Being pantheist, in some sense, science IS supernatural to me; mathematics is the language of the gods, in some sense, and the universe is deity. I don't see a separation between the two. If I don't understand something, I don't think it's "supernatural", it's just some science I don't understand yet. And yet I also think that "holiness" and "sacredness" is inherent in it.

But yeah, the whole article is mostly stupid. Weird, people who grow up being taught two things will believe two things? Like they've been doing for thousands and thousands of years? People continue to seek out explanations for the unknown, and when they have no science to answer they use the next best thing? Newsworthy indeed.

[Faemon]

People Merge Supernatural and Scientific Beliefs When Reasoning With the Unknown, Study Shows

"The standard assumption that scientific and religious explanations compete should be re-evaluated in light of substantial psychological evidence," Legare said.

Like, seriously. Seriously? I was never aware that religion and science were "in competition, and that anyone who thought so - no matter which side of the argument they were on - was a closed-minded idiot.

Yeah, it's very unscientific to go by "standard assumption". They should have at least released a survey, first, asking people if they thought that 1. the supernatural and the scientific were contradictory, and 2. if people outgrew religion as they got older.

Then the results would set a standard "sample number of these many people of that demographic in so-and-so area" and it wouldn't be an assumption.

But yeah, the whole article is mostly stupid. Weird, people who grow up being taught two things will believe two things? Like they've been doing for thousands and thousands of years? People continue to seek out explanations for the unknown, and when they have no science to answer they use the next best thing? Newsworthy indeed.

Ehh, some obvious things have to be said. I thought that was pretty much the foundation of study, to set the parameters. It just isn't a proper study to take anything for granted.

[Sophia C]

But yeah, the whole article is mostly stupid. Weird, people who grow up being taught two things will believe two things? Like they've been doing for thousands and thousands of years? People continue to seek out explanations for the unknown, and when they have no science to answer they use the next best thing? Newsworthy indeed.

It is fairly pointless research. There's much better research out there about how people integrate ideas of the supernatural into their ordinary lives. I like this recent study: http://www.utexas.edu/news/2012/07/26/repetitious-magical-rituals-more-effective-study/

I'm a sociologist of religion and come across this stuff from time to time. This study looks at the cause-and-effect beliefs in magical rituals in Brazil, compares them with ancient Egyptian curse tablets, and finds that we need our rituals to be complex in specific ways (and, possibly, make reference to a divine or powerful force), among other things.

[mlr52]

People Merge Supernatural and Scientific Beliefs When Reasoning With the Unknown, Study Shows

In some ways that's kind of a "well no duh", but I also thought it was relevant to some of the discussions we've had recently.



:hdsk:

Like, seriously. Seriously? I was never aware that religion and science were "in competition, and that anyone who thought so - no matter which side of the argument they were on - was a closed-minded idiot.

Being pantheist, in some sense, science IS supernatural to me; mathematics is the language of the gods, in some sense, and the universe is deity. I don't see a separation between the two. If I don't understand something, I don't think it's "supernatural", it's just some science I don't understand yet. And yet I also think that "holiness" and "sacredness" is inherent in it.

But yeah, the whole article is mostly stupid. Weird, people who grow up being taught two things will believe two things? Like they've been doing for thousands and thousands of years? People continue to seek out explanations for the unknown, and when they have no science to answer they use the next best thing? Newsworthy indeed.

I had a boss where I worked who once asked me if I believed in the Bible's version of creation, I said yes.  He then asked if I believed in the scientific version of creation, again I said yes.  He then asked how I could believe both, I told him they were two different ways of explaining the same event.   The conversation ended there, and was never resumed.

The Religious and Scientific theory's about life, creation, and our purpose on this plane of existence  focus on different aspects of, what was, is, and may be.


In addition different people understand things differently, and need explanations they can understand.

[RandallS]

But yeah, the whole article is mostly stupid. Weird, people who grow up being taught two things will believe two things? Like they've been doing for thousands and thousands of years? People continue to seek out explanations for the unknown, and when they have no science to answer they use the next best thing? Newsworthy indeed.

Actually, it is. Or at least the fact a a controlled experiment confirms this assumption is newsworthy.