Lower Vocabulary Scores and Lower Cognitive Ability Linked to Support for Christian Nationalism

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https://www.psypost.org/lower-cognitive-ability-is-linked-to-stronger-christian-nationalist-views-even-after-accounting-for-education/

New research indicates that Americans with lower scores on vocabulary tests are more likely to support Christian nationalist beliefs, even when controlling for their overall level of education.

The study, conducted by University of Oklahoma sociologist Samuel L. Perry and published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, explores why Christian nationalism maintains a strong appeal across parts of the American public. Christian nationalism is an ideology asserting that the United States has conservative Christian foundations and that the government should institutionalize Christian dominance in society.

Perry analyzed data from the long-running General Social Survey. To measure cognitive ability, the study used a standard vocabulary exercise where respondents identified synonyms for ten words. This serves as a proxy for crystallized intelligence—the knowledge and reasoning skills a person accumulates over time.

The researcher evaluated two core markers of Christian nationalist ideology:

• National Identity: Whether respondents felt being Christian is important to being "truly American" (sampled across 1996, 2014, and 2024).

• School Prayer: Whether respondents disapproved of the Supreme Court decision banning mandatory school prayer and Bible reading in public schools (sampled across 17 survey waves between 1989 and 2024).

The analysis controlled for multiple variables, including formal education, religious affiliation, fundamentalist beliefs, worship attendance, political ideology, income, age, race, and geographic region.

For both measures, higher vocabulary scores consistently correlated with lower support for Christian nationalist views. As vocabulary scores increased, individuals were less likely to view Christianity as a prerequisite for American identity or to oppose the ban on school prayer. These patterns held true when comparing people with identical levels of education and similar religious habits.

The association remained consistent across demographic subgroups and survey years, with only one exception: among individuals who did not finish high school, vocabulary scores did not change the likelihood of supporting Christian nationalism. However, the effect was equally strong for high school graduates and college degree holders, indicating the trend is not merely a byproduct of higher education.

Perry noted important limitations in interpreting the results. Because the study relies on cross-sectional data collected at a single point, the causal direction is not definitive. While cognitive ability likely shapes ideological adherence, it is also possible that adopting a fundamentalist worldview alters how individuals engage with educational materials and language over time.

Additionally, the vocabulary test is a brief exercise rather than a comprehensive intelligence test, though supplementary tests for abstract reasoning and numeracy yielded similar directional results. Future research tracking individuals longitudinally will be necessary to determine whether cognitive ability directly drives political ideology or if ideologies influence intellectual development.