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What the study is describing is a psychological trait known as dogmatism. You might be familiar with the words "dogma" or "dogmatic" in their religious sense:

by jawns 4y ago

What the study is describing is a psychological trait known as dogmatism. You might be familiar with the words "dogma" or "dogmatic" in their religious sense: a set of beliefs that members of a religion are expected to accept as true. But there is another, broader way that "dogmatic" is used that does not necessarily have to do with religious dogma. In psychology, dogmatism is a defined as exhibiting great certainty about the correctness of one's views and an unwillingness to consider new evidence, or an unwillingness to adjust one's views in light of new evidence. Last year I read about a fascinating 2020 study that measures dogmatism in a novel way, and I created a little web app that adapts the study's technique to determine your own level of dogmatism: https://shaungallagher.pressbin.com/blog/dogmatism.html https://shaungallagher.pressbin.com/blog/dogmatism.html Going back to the 2022 study that OP posted, one thing that irks me is the way the authors lump all religious belief into one bucket: > Because several issues that we examine have come into conflict with religious thinking, and because religion can itself be a polarizing factor for attitudes and beliefs, we also test for an attenuation for issues more associated with religiosity. I'm Catholic, so that makes me religious. But I have friends who are Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Baha'i, etc., and their belief systems are vastly different than mine. Yet we all have this trait "religiosity" that really tells us very little about what any of us believe. The question the study uses -- "How important is religion in your life?" -- to gauge religiosity, without making any distinctions between vastly different religious beliefs and practices, is bizarre to me. I can't help but be skeptical that religiosity in the abstract tells us anything meaningful.

mlyle 4y ago
The interesting finding isn't that they're dogmatic about their anti-conensus views. It's that they are willing to bet more that they'll perform well on tests of objective scientific knowledge of related fields... and then don't.
- somenameforme 4y ago
  The paper seems to have largely equated "objective scientific knowledge" with liminal consensus. For instance, among their "objective scientific knowledge" questions asked whether, "The novel coronavirus was unleashed in a laboratory in Wuhan and spread from there." Another was "The numbers of people that have died from COVID-19 are artificially inflated." The latter was at least removed from the results, but emphasizes the point nonetheless that they found it appropriate to include questions that had nothing to do with science. So you end up with results that affirm that people who disagree with consensus disagree with consensus.
  - mlyle 4y ago
    > . For instance, among their "objective scientific knowledge" questions asked whether, "The novel coronavirus was unleashed in a laboratory in Wuhan and spread from there." Another was "The numbers of people that have died from COVID-19 are artificially inflated." This is an incorrect reading of the paper. Those are statements intended to determine whether a participant has anti-consensus beliefs, but do not occur on the objective measure we're talking about. Then participants were asked to bet on their ability to pass a middle-school level science test. People with anti-consensus beliefs bet higher on their performance and did worse on the test compared to people without those anti-consensus beliefs. These are the test questions they were asked: 1. True or false? The center of the earth is very hot: True 2. True or false? The continents have been moving their location for millions of years and will continue to move. True 3. True or false? The oxygen we breathe comes from plants: True 4. True or false? Antibiotics kills viruses as well as bacteria: False 5. True or false? All insects have eight legs: False 6. True or false? All radioactivity is man made: False 7. True or false? Men and women normally have the same number of chromosomes: True 8. True or false? Lasers work by focusing sound waves: False 9. True or false? Almost all food energy for living organisms comes originally from sunlight: True 10. True or false? Electrons are smaller than atoms: True 11. True or false? All plants and animals have DNA: True 12. True or false? Humans share a majority of their genes with chimpanzees: True 13. True or false? It is the father’s genes that decide whether the baby is a boy or a girl: True 14. True or false? Ordinary tomatoes do not have genes, whereas genetically modified tomatoes do: False 15. True or false? Sound moves faster than light. False 16. True or false? The North Pole is a sheet of ice that floats on the Arctic Ocean. True 17. True or false? The ozone layer absorbs most of the sun’s UVB radiation, but not UVA radiation. True 18. True or false? Nitrogen makes up most of the earth’s atmosphere. True. 19. True or false? Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system. True 20. True or false? Pathology is the study of the human body. False 21. True or false? The skin is the largest organ of the human body. True 22. True or false? Ligaments connect muscles to bones. False 23. True or false? All mutations to a human’s or animal’s genes are unhealthy. False 24. True or false? Uranium is an element found in nature. True 25. True or false? Radioactive milk can be made safe by boiling it. False 26. True or false? The process of splitting uranium or plutonium atoms to create energy is called nuclear fission. True 27. True or false? Venus is the closest planet to the sun. False 28. True or false? It takes 24 hours for the earth to orbit the sun: False 29. True or false? A “Red Dwarf” is a kind of planet. False 30. True or false? The universe is expanding. True 31. True or false? Earth is the only place in the solar system where helium can be found. False 32. True or false? Gravity is the theory that serves as the foundation for modern biology. False. 33. True or false? The earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. False 34. True or false? “Survival of the fittest” is a phrase used to describe how natural selection works. True
jahewson 4y ago
Sounds like a more extreme version of the confirmation bias.
ss108 4y ago
Leaving aside whether Catholics, Jews, and Muslims have "vastly different" worldviews or religious beliefs, a question like that still has meaning in the West, where religion is increasingly under attack. I think it's already the case that the practical difference between adhering to a normatively conservative religion versus not is greater and more important than the differences among such religions.

by jawns 4y ago

mlyle 4y ago

The interesting finding isn't that they're dogmatic about their anti-conensus views. It's that they are willing to bet more that they'll perform well on tests of objective scientific knowledge of related fields... and then don't.

somenameforme 4y ago
The paper seems to have largely equated "objective scientific knowledge" with liminal consensus. For instance, among their "objective scientific knowledge" questions asked whether, "The novel coronavirus was unleashed in a laboratory in Wuhan and spread from there." Another was "The numbers of people that have died from COVID-19 are artificially inflated." The latter was at least removed from the results, but emphasizes the point nonetheless that they found it appropriate to include questions that had nothing to do with science. So you end up with results that affirm that people who disagree with consensus disagree with consensus.
- mlyle 4y ago
  > . For instance, among their "objective scientific knowledge" questions asked whether, "The novel coronavirus was unleashed in a laboratory in Wuhan and spread from there." Another was "The numbers of people that have died from COVID-19 are artificially inflated." This is an incorrect reading of the paper. Those are statements intended to determine whether a participant has anti-consensus beliefs, but do not occur on the objective measure we're talking about. Then participants were asked to bet on their ability to pass a middle-school level science test. People with anti-consensus beliefs bet higher on their performance and did worse on the test compared to people without those anti-consensus beliefs. These are the test questions they were asked: 1. True or false? The center of the earth is very hot: True 2. True or false? The continents have been moving their location for millions of years and will continue to move. True 3. True or false? The oxygen we breathe comes from plants: True 4. True or false? Antibiotics kills viruses as well as bacteria: False 5. True or false? All insects have eight legs: False 6. True or false? All radioactivity is man made: False 7. True or false? Men and women normally have the same number of chromosomes: True 8. True or false? Lasers work by focusing sound waves: False 9. True or false? Almost all food energy for living organisms comes originally from sunlight: True 10. True or false? Electrons are smaller than atoms: True 11. True or false? All plants and animals have DNA: True 12. True or false? Humans share a majority of their genes with chimpanzees: True 13. True or false? It is the father’s genes that decide whether the baby is a boy or a girl: True 14. True or false? Ordinary tomatoes do not have genes, whereas genetically modified tomatoes do: False 15. True or false? Sound moves faster than light. False 16. True or false? The North Pole is a sheet of ice that floats on the Arctic Ocean. True 17. True or false? The ozone layer absorbs most of the sun’s UVB radiation, but not UVA radiation. True 18. True or false? Nitrogen makes up most of the earth’s atmosphere. True. 19. True or false? Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system. True 20. True or false? Pathology is the study of the human body. False 21. True or false? The skin is the largest organ of the human body. True 22. True or false? Ligaments connect muscles to bones. False 23. True or false? All mutations to a human’s or animal’s genes are unhealthy. False 24. True or false? Uranium is an element found in nature. True 25. True or false? Radioactive milk can be made safe by boiling it. False 26. True or false? The process of splitting uranium or plutonium atoms to create energy is called nuclear fission. True 27. True or false? Venus is the closest planet to the sun. False 28. True or false? It takes 24 hours for the earth to orbit the sun: False 29. True or false? A “Red Dwarf” is a kind of planet. False 30. True or false? The universe is expanding. True 31. True or false? Earth is the only place in the solar system where helium can be found. False 32. True or false? Gravity is the theory that serves as the foundation for modern biology. False. 33. True or false? The earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. False 34. True or false? “Survival of the fittest” is a phrase used to describe how natural selection works. True

jahewson 4y ago

Sounds like a more extreme version of the confirmation bias.

ss108 4y ago

Leaving aside whether Catholics, Jews, and Muslims have "vastly different" worldviews or religious beliefs, a question like that still has meaning in the West, where religion is increasingly under attack. I think it's already the case that the practical difference between adhering to a normatively conservative religion versus not is greater and more important than the differences among such religions.