It has become standard on R&S to ridicule the intelligence of people who believe things that strain your credulity. But Michael Shermer, founding editor of Skeptic Magazine, makes an interesting point: the smarter you are, the more elaborately you can justify a false belief.
What do you think?
2007-10-02 01:11:14 · 33 answers · asked by auntb93 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
There are many things that contribute to what we call smart or intelligent, at one time it was argued that there should be around 7 IQ metrics measuring various aspects of intelligence.
Two or more recent studies have shown that there is no correlation between belief and intelligence but that there is a negative correlation between belief and thinking skills i.e objectivity, analysis and reasoning.
I'd tend to agree that the smarter you are the more elaborately you can justify a belief, as that is fairly obvious.
2007-10-02 01:26:19 · answer #1 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Everyone does dumb things! Some of us are just more aware of it, and you are more aware of it in social circumstances. And you probably do more dumb things with others because of shyness and stress...and that's why you drink...why lots of people drink. It relaxes you but unfortunately also disables you if you overdo it. I've been that way all my life. You may have less stress with fewer people that you know very well or when you are with at least one person that you feel very secure with. It's just part of your personality. Make adjustments that work for you. Hey, I just wrote a question about the lunar eclipse tonight, but typed in "solar." Dumb!
2016-05-19 00:16:35 · answer #2 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I guess smart people just can't accept the fact that something they've always believed is false, because their intelligence encourages them to think that they can justify it. So they want it to become more of a widespread truth by elaborately justifying them and making them appear real.
But then, my boyfriend is a believer of God despite the fact that he has scholarship and is an excellent logical thinker. He believes that God exists merely because his religious mother has always taught him that God will be there for him, and because he had experienced things that he "assumed" was the consequence of God's action. He doesn't try to justify God's existence.
I think it's true that smart people can justify false beliefs more elaborately than those who aren't, only that whether they do that or not depends on their experience and their personalities.
2007-10-02 01:25:07 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
I'm not sure that's exactly what happens - it could, theoretically - but I dont think it does.
I think its more like a big wall that goes up, take a theistic scientist. He has to be a scientist at work, he looks at hypotheses, he draws evidence he reaches conclusions etc - its all based on real empirical data, he can't say 'this result is wrong because my faith tells me the opposite should happen'.
Yet when he gets home and goes to church on sunday he puts on a different hat (or merely takes off his thinking hat) and doesnt apply anything like the same critical thought to what he's hearing. Indeed he has no intention of being critical at all and takes it on 'faith'.
People need to be more consistent, if he thought it through, he'd soon find something more productive to do on his sunday - like sleeping in.
2007-10-02 01:24:40 · answer #4 · answered by Leviathan 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I have wondered this myself. I mean, I know a good many VERY intelligent Christians - including a literalist who knows 3 ancient languages and holds a PhD, but I cannot understand how they accept the virgin birth and the resurrection. It just baffles me. I'm not that brilliant or anything, but it seems so illogical. I mean, in thousands of years of human history, the only time we hear about virgin births are in relation to myths. Why is the one that you (meaning wholever believes in a virgin birth) believe in true while the others are false? It just makes no sense to me.
2007-10-02 01:33:33 · answer #5 · answered by ZombieTrix 2012 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I.Q. and Wisdom do not, necessarily walk, hand in hand. A LOT of very brilliant people have next to ZERO common sense when it comes to everyday things. I think it's Natures way of making even the brightest of us be a bit more humble.
BB,
Raji the Green Witch
2007-10-02 03:04:21 · answer #6 · answered by Raji the Green Witch 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The opposite is also true. How smart am I to believe that the guy that says a jar of peanut butter is proof that evolution does not exist?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZFG5PKw504&mode=related&search=
2007-10-02 01:17:51 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
True, but stupid people believe ridiculous things too.
The bottom line: there is no correlation between level of intelligence and validity of belief.
-Aztec276
2007-10-02 01:26:06 · answer #8 · answered by Aztec276 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Shermer's guinea pig must've been Richard Dawkins.
2007-10-02 01:28:05 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
I disagree, I think a smarter person will be more skeptical and less likely to believe something rediculous. But smart people are not immune to dumb beliefs.
What I've noticed is people believe weird things out of stress or fear. Religion for example - from the fear of death, or the fear of the unknown. Many conspiracy theorists believe wacky things because they dont want people to 'put one over on them', basically trying to convince themselves 'you can't fool me!'.
2007-10-02 01:16:50 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 3⤋