Cognitive Biases and Religious Belief: A Path Model Replication in the Czech Republic and Slovakia With a Focus on Anthropomorphism. Issue 1 (January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Willard, Aiyana K.; Cingl, Lubomír; Norenzayan, Ara
• Is Part Of: Social psychological & personality science. Volume 11:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 97
• Page End: 106
• Publication Date: 2020-01
• Subjects: cognitive biases -- anthropomorphism -- religion -- paranormal beliefs -- replication; Personality -- Periodicals; Social psychology -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 155.2
• DOI: 10.1177/1948550619841629
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1948-5506

Abstract

We examined cognitive biases that underlie individual differences in supernatural beliefs in nationally representative samples from the Czech Republic and Slovakia (total N = 2, 022). These countries were chosen because of their differing levels of religious belief despite their cultural similarity. Replicating a previous study with North American samples, we found that anthropomorphism was unrelated to belief in God but was consistently related to paranormal beliefs. Living in a highly religious area was related to a lower tendency to anthropomorphize. We examined this relationship further to find that anthropomorphism was related to belief in God for nonreligious participants, was inversely related to belief in God among religious Slovaks, and not related for religious Czechs. These findings suggest that anthropomorphism predicts belief in God for people who are unaffiliated, but this relationship disappears or is reversed for religious believers participating in a Christian religious tradition.