Supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition
According to the Intuitive Belief Hypothesis, supernatural belief relies heavily on intuitive thinking—and decreases when analytic thinking is engaged. After pointing out various limitations in prior attempts to support this Intuitive Belief Hypothesis, we test it across three new studies using a va...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48518/ |
| _version_ | 1848797782016524288 |
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| author | Farias, Miguel van Mulukom, Valerie Kahane, Guy Kreplin, Ute Joyce, Anna Soares, Pedro Oviedo, Lluis Hernu, Mathilde Rokita, Karolina Savulescu, Julian Möttönen, Riikka |
| author_facet | Farias, Miguel van Mulukom, Valerie Kahane, Guy Kreplin, Ute Joyce, Anna Soares, Pedro Oviedo, Lluis Hernu, Mathilde Rokita, Karolina Savulescu, Julian Möttönen, Riikka |
| author_sort | Farias, Miguel |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | According to the Intuitive Belief Hypothesis, supernatural belief relies heavily on intuitive thinking—and decreases when analytic thinking is engaged. After pointing out various limitations in prior attempts to support this Intuitive Belief Hypothesis, we test it across three new studies using a variety of paradigms, ranging from a pilgrimage field study to a neurostimulation experiment. In all three studies, we found no relationship between intuitive or analytical thinking and supernatural belief. We conclude that it is premature to explain belief in gods as ‘intuitive’, and that other factors, such as socio-cultural upbringing, are likely to play a greater role in the emergence and maintenance of supernatural belief than cognitive style. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:09:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-48518 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:09:20Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-485182020-05-04T19:16:31Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48518/ Supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition Farias, Miguel van Mulukom, Valerie Kahane, Guy Kreplin, Ute Joyce, Anna Soares, Pedro Oviedo, Lluis Hernu, Mathilde Rokita, Karolina Savulescu, Julian Möttönen, Riikka According to the Intuitive Belief Hypothesis, supernatural belief relies heavily on intuitive thinking—and decreases when analytic thinking is engaged. After pointing out various limitations in prior attempts to support this Intuitive Belief Hypothesis, we test it across three new studies using a variety of paradigms, ranging from a pilgrimage field study to a neurostimulation experiment. In all three studies, we found no relationship between intuitive or analytical thinking and supernatural belief. We conclude that it is premature to explain belief in gods as ‘intuitive’, and that other factors, such as socio-cultural upbringing, are likely to play a greater role in the emergence and maintenance of supernatural belief than cognitive style. Nature Publishing Group 2017-11-08 Article PeerReviewed Farias, Miguel, van Mulukom, Valerie, Kahane, Guy, Kreplin, Ute, Joyce, Anna, Soares, Pedro, Oviedo, Lluis, Hernu, Mathilde, Rokita, Karolina, Savulescu, Julian and Möttönen, Riikka (2017) Supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition. Scientific Reports, 7 (1). 15100/1-15100/8. ISSN 2045-2322 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14090-9 doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14090-9 doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14090-9 |
| spellingShingle | Farias, Miguel van Mulukom, Valerie Kahane, Guy Kreplin, Ute Joyce, Anna Soares, Pedro Oviedo, Lluis Hernu, Mathilde Rokita, Karolina Savulescu, Julian Möttönen, Riikka Supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition |
| title | Supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition |
| title_full | Supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition |
| title_fullStr | Supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition |
| title_full_unstemmed | Supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition |
| title_short | Supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition |
| title_sort | supernatural belief is not modulated by intuitive thinking style or cognitive inhibition |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48518/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48518/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48518/ |