Religion and Intelligence - An Evolutionary Analysis

446 Pages·2014·3.31 MB·English

by  Edward Dutton

RELIGION AND INTELLIGENCE
An Evolutionary Analysis
EDWARD DUTTON
Ulster Institute for Social Research
Published 2014 by
Ulster Institute for Social Research
London NW10 5TH, UK
ISBN9780957391369
Copyright© 2014 Edward Dutton
All rights reserved
To my children, Martha and Henry.
'The fool says in his heart "There is no God." They are corrupt,
their deeds are vile, there is no one who does good.' (Psalm 14:1).
'Doth someone say that there be gods above? There are not; no,
there are not. Let no fool, led by the old false fable, thus deceive
you.' (Euripides, Bellerophon).
Contents
Acknowledgements xv
Chapter One
Introduction 1
1. Introduction. 1
2. 'What About the Archbishop of Canterbury, St Thomas
Aquinas or Jacques Derrida?' 2
3. 'It's Simplistic.' 3
4. Original Contribution. 5
5. Evolutionary Psychology and Consilience. 6
6. Outline. 8
7. Conclusion. 11
8. The Educated Reader. 11
Chapter Two
Defining Science and Religion 13
1. Introduction. 13
2. Stereotypes and Categories. 13
3. What is 'Science'? 16
4. On Speculation. 20
5. Problems with the Lexical Definition of Religion. 22
6. Operational Definitions of Religion. 24
7. Religious Experience and Replacement Religion. 30
8. Responding to the Postmodern Critique. 33
9. Conclusion. 35
Chapter Three
The Evolution and Heritability of Religion 37
1. Introduction. 37
2. Religion and Evolution. 37
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3. Is Religion Adaptive in Itself? 45
4. Religion and Fertility. 48
5. Genetics: A Brief Introduction. 51
6. Twin Studies and Religious Heritability. 53
7. Replacement Religion and Heritability. 60
8. Conclusion. 61
Chapter Four
Defining Intelligence 63
1. Introduction. 63
2. What is Intelligence? 64
3. The History of the Intelligence Construct. 66
4. Criticisms of IQ Tests. 68
5. Criticisms of the Concept of Intelligence. 79
6. The Heritability of Intelligence. 84
7. Parent-Child Intelligence Variation. 87
8. Intelligence and Evolution. 88
9. Conclusion. 89
Chapter Five
Defining Personality 91
1. Introduction. 91
2. Humors. 92
3. The Big Five. 93
4. The Science behind the Big Five. 95
5. Extraversion. 100
6. Neuroticism. 102
7. Conscientiousness. 104
8. Agreeableness. 106
9. Openness. 108
10. Openness, Openness-Intellect and Intelligence. 112
11. Environmental Influence on Personality. 113
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Contents
12. Religion and Personality. 119
13. Educational Success and Personality. 123
14. Personality and Academic Genius. 127
15. Religious Academics: An Explanation. 129
16. Academics and Replacement Religion. 131
17. Conclusion. 134
Chapter Six
The Historical Understanding of the Relationship
between Religion and Intelligence 137
1. Introduction. 137
2. Everyday Observation. 137
3. Stage Theories of Societal Development. 144
4. Religion and Intelligence in Passing. 148
5. Conclusion. 153
Chapter Seven
Religion and Intelligence amongst Individuals 155
1. Introduction. 155
2. Why Does Intelligence Negatively Predict 156
Religiousness?
3. The Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis. 159
4. The Cultural Mediation Hypothesis. 163
5. Critiques of the Inverse Relationship. 166
6. Religion and IQ. 170
7. Religion and Undergraduates. 181
8. Religion and Intelligence amongst Individuals across
the World. 184
9. Intelligence and Replacement Religion. 188
10. Replacement Religion in the UK. 189
11. Conclusion. 191
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Chapter Eight
Religiousness and the Intelligence Elite 193
1. Introduction. 193
2. Education and Intelligence. 193
3. IQs of Academics in Different Disciplines. 195
4. Religion in Academia. 201
5. Nobel Prize Winners and Academic Societies. 212
6. Academia and Replacement Religion. 213
7. Conclusion. 218
Chapter Nine
Age and Religion 221
1. Introduction. 221
2. Age and Religiousness amongst Children. 221
3. Religion and the Life Span. 223
4. Age and Religion in the UK. 225
5. Age and Religion in Canada. 228
6. Age and Religion in the USA. 229
7. Conclusion. 230
Chapter Ten
Era, the Flynn Effect and Religion 231
1. Introduction. 231
2. The Flynn Effect. 232
3. The Decline of the Flynn Effect. 243
4. Religion and Flynn Effect. 246
5. Religious Identification and Church Attendance. 249
6. The Secularization Thesis. 252
7. Problems with the Secularization Thesis. 254
8. Explaining Modernization. 257
9. Conclusion. 263
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Contents
Chapter Eleven
Gender and Religion 265
1. Introduction. 265
2. Gender and Intelligence. 265
3. Intelligence, Maturation, and Gender. 268
4. Gender and Religiousness. 269
5. Conclusion. 272
Chapter Twelve
Religion and National Intelligence 273
1. Introduction. 273
2. Criticisms of Lynn and Vanhanen's National IQs. 273
3. National Intelligence and Religion. 278
4. Problems with Researching National Religiousness. 280
5. Lynn and Vanhanen's (2012) Analysis. 293
6. Conclusion. 304
Chapter Thirteen
Race and Religion in the USA 305
1. Introduction. 305
2. Defining 'Race' and Refuting Criticisms of the Concept. 305
3. From Within Groups to Between Them. 309
4. Evidence for Racial Differences in Intelligence. 312
5. Race and Personality Differences. 318
6. Racial-Religious Differences in the USA. 321
7. Conclusion. 327
Chapter Fourteen
Conclusion: The Future of Religion 329
1. Introduction. 329
2. Intelligence Inversely Correlates with Religiousness. 329
3. The Future of Religion. 332
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4. How Religion Might Rise. 338
5. Conclusion. 346
References 347
Name Index 425
Subject Index 431
About the Author 437
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Contents
Tables
3.1 -Heritability of Religiousness Based on Twin Studies. 56
4.1 -Spearman's (1904) Rank Order Correlation Matrix. 70
5.1 -Prevalence of Psychopathic Personality in Relation to
Educational Level in the USA. 124
5.2 -Academic Discipline and Modal Personality. 125
7.1. Correlation between Religious Belief and Intelligence
amongst Individuals. 176
7.2. Correlation between Religious Practice and Intelligence
amongst individuals. 180
7.3 -Religious Belief and Education in Different Countries.185
8.1 - IQs of Academics in Different Disciplines. 195
8.2 -Belief in God amongst Elite University Scientists in
the USA. 205
8.3 -Politics in American Academia. 215
9.1 -Religion amongst English School Children; Percentages
Agreeing with Religious Statements. 223
9.2 -Attitude to Religion amongst Northern Irish School
Children. 223
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