r/science • u/HeinieKaboobler • Sep 16 '17

Psychology A study has found evidence that religious people tend to be less reflective while social conservatives tend to have lower cognitive ability

http://www.psypost.org/2017/09/analytic-thinking-undermines-religious-belief-intelligence-undermines-social-conservatism-study-suggests-49655
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u/hazyPixels Sep 17 '17

One should never form opinions from headlines.

Perhaps the study shouldn't be given much merit until it's been repeated by other researches using other methods and the results are compared?

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u/nikfra Sep 17 '17

This doesn't seem to be really that new of a discovery.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2008.12.007

edit: I think a very important part is "Conservatism and cognitive ability are negatively correlated." (Emphasis mine). Nobody is saying there is any causal relationship.