Entries by David Maiolo

Belief in a Personal God and Cognitive Reasoning: Correlations, History, and Cognitive Defenses

Numerous studies in cognitive science and psychology have explored how religiosity (belief in a personal God and engagement in organized religion) relates to measures of intelligence, analytical reasoning, and critical thinking. A consistent finding is a small but reliable negative correlation between general intelligence and religiosity. For example, a meta-analysis of 63 studies found a significant negative association between intelligence and religious belief; an updated review of 83 studies confirmed this correlation in the range of r ≈ –0.20 to –0.23​