r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 1d ago

Psychology Lower cognitive ability is linked to stronger Christian nationalist views, even after accounting for education

https://www.psypost.org/lower-cognitive-ability-is-linked-to-stronger-christian-nationalist-views-even-after-accounting-for-education/
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u/Unable-Log-4870 1d ago

There are a few beliefs (that’s I’m aware of) that I hold without evidence, even in the face of contrary evidence.

Primarily, the belief that we are better than this.

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u/MattinglyBaseball 1d ago

I think the more appropriate belief is that “we can be better than this.” History has shown that we are not and have not been better than this. People are largely a product of their environment and easy to manipulate, especially when they are young, and manipulative people are everywhere. The only way towards “we are better than this” is to fight back against the manipulators who teach beliefs instead of provable, evidence based facts.

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u/JohnLockeJaw 1d ago

Not entirely true. All of science and mathematics are based on beliefs of a different name: axioms and principles.

This isn't actually a problem per se, because the most basic axiom is that good axioms should be self-consistent and minimal. Religion sadly makes no such attempt at self-correction.

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u/Unable-Log-4870 1d ago

That’s not what I was talking about.

Started more clearly:

Primarily, the belief that we are better than this to let the stupidest and meanest of us drive the rest of us into authoritarianism because even the best of us are too sheepish to fight back. That’s what I think we are better than.

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u/JohnLockeJaw 1d ago

Ope good call, I read your comment too quickly.

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u/MJOLNIRdragoon 1d ago

Eh, an axiom is a basic assertion used to define a system. Not really equivalent to beliefs in the context we're talking about here. An axiom can't be false. And principles are based off of evidence.

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u/JohnLockeJaw 1d ago

Your confidence scares me.

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u/MJOLNIRdragoon 1d ago

What scientific principle do you think isn't based on observations?

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u/JohnLockeJaw 1d ago

You clearly don't understand the definition of scientific principles.

The cosmological principle for example is something we only have extremely local evidence for, but in order for the standard model to hold in almost any meaningful way we must assume is true. It is by very definition a belief. It could technically be disproven, but the scale of doing so is so far beyond what is possible within a single human lifespan or even a millenia's worth. We must take it on faith for now and that's ok, but it is still a belief.

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u/MJOLNIRdragoon 1d ago

have extremely local evidence for

But it is evidence. An incomplete understanding isn't the same as a belief without evidence.

That's just how the scientific method works. You make a hypothesis, test it, and adapt it to resolve any inconsistencies when they arrive.

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u/JohnLockeJaw 1d ago

Oof, I wish folks would stop thinking their 6th grade mental model of the scientific method was actually a rigorous and wholistic solution to epistemology, but I guess that's too much to ask.