Social consequences of information search: Seeking evidence and explanation signals religious and scientific commitments

Year of Conference
2019

Type

Conference Proceedings
Abstract

Scientific norms value skepticism; many religious traditions value faith. We test the hypothesis that these different attitudes towards inquiry and belief result in different inferences from epistemic behavior: Whereas the pursuit of evidence or explanations is taken as a signal of commitment to science, forgoing further evidence and explanation is taken as a signal of commitment to religion. Two studies (N = 401) support these predictions. We also find that deciding to pursue inquiry is judged more moral and trustworthy, with moderating effects of participant religiosity and scientism. These findings suggest that epistemic behavior can be a social signal, and shed light on the epistemic and social functions of scientific vs. religious belief.

Conference Name
Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
Pages
1837-1843
Publisher
Montreal, QC: Cognitive Science Society
Documents