Belief in human evolution makes people better persons

[sayak83]

Or so says a very large international scale study.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-disbelief-human-evolution-linked-greater.html

Excerpts are quoted below

A disbelief in human evolution was associated with higher levels of prejudice, racist attitudes and support of discriminatory behavior against Blacks, immigrants and the LGBTQ community in the U.S., according to University of Massachusetts Amherst research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Similarly, across the globe—in 19 Eastern European countries, 25 Muslim countries and in Israel—low belief in evolution was linked to higher biases within a person's group, prejudicial attitudes toward people in different groups and less support for conflict resolution.
Regardless of whether one considers religion an important part of their life, belief in evolution relates to less prejudice independently from belief, or lack thereof, in God or any particular religion," Syropoulos says.

In the Israel-based study, people with a higher belief in evolution were more likely to support peace among Palestinians, Arabs and Jews. In the study involving countries in the Islamic world, belief in evolution was associated with less prejudice toward Christians and Jews. And in the study based in Eastern Europe, where Orthodox Christians are the majority, a belief in evolution was linked with less prejudice toward gypsies, Jews and Muslims.

We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

Adding the original paper link
APA PsycNet

 

[DharmaCatLamp]

Or so says a very large international scale study.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-disbelief-human-evolution-linked-greater.html

Excerpts are quoted below




We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

I think that identifying any one belief as making someone better or worse is probably overly simplistic. A number of determining factors go into what people believe typically and saying that a single factor is all that matters is well.. silly.

 

[Secret Chief]

Or so says a very large international scale study.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-disbelief-human-evolution-linked-greater.html

Excerpts are quoted below




We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

Seems about right. It's good when humans appreciate we are just one part of the living world and live in a manner which reflects that.

 

[Altfish]

Makes sense, 'nice' people, in the long-run , are more likely to find partners and therefore pass on their genes.

 

[danieldemol]

Or so says a very large international scale study.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-disbelief-human-evolution-linked-greater.html

Excerpts are quoted below




We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

I think it is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, do people believe in evolution because they are less predisposed to bias or does belief in evolution help them become less biased?

In my opinion.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I think it is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, do people believe in evolution because they are less predisposed to bias or does belief in evolution help them become less biased?

In my opinion.

I see what you mean, although I think bias tends to be situational and has to do with the pliability of human brains. All I can do is return to the most obvious examples of blind spots and crushes. A blind spot refers to things that a person is unable to perceive. Some people for example cannot perceive anything to their left, despite having two eyes. A person can be otherwise normal but be unable to think about some item or other. I think we've all seen a public example of extreme narcissistic disorder in which a person is unable to self criticize. They simply aren't aware that they make mistakes and aren't aware of their disorder, either. People have obsessions. We have also got attention deficits and lack of motivation and lack of mental energy. All of these things play into bias.

 

[PureX]

Or so says a very large international scale study.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-disbelief-human-evolution-linked-greater.html

Excerpts are quoted below




We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

I say it's a load of biased crap. Mostly because it can't actually establish a connection between the idea of biological evolution and any of the intellectual changes it claims "belief in evolution" to be responsible for. Since all of those changes are very likely to have a whole myriad of cultural causes that have nothing to do with the idea of evolution.

It's like claiming that people not named Elisha, Jacob, and Jubal are more likely to be secular humanists, so those names must cause people not to be secular humanists. When the names have no direct relation to not being secular humanists at all, but are just corralive indicators of conservative religious parents choosing biblical names for their children.

 

[exchemist]

Or so says a very large international scale study.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-disbelief-human-evolution-linked-greater.html

Excerpts are quoted below




We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

I can't find a link to the paper in this article. Is there one that I have missed, or do I need to look it up independently?

I have a suspicion there may be a correlation with overall level of education, though I see the researchers are said to have corrected for various confounding factors. So I'd like to read the paper, ideally.

I note, though, that they have found the result is true for both religious believers and non-believers. So one conclusion we cannot draw from this, apparently, is that religious believers are more prejudiced.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

What say others?

I'm not surprised that accepting evolution is inversely correlated with bigotry, but I doubt that accepting evolution will make anybody a better person. If one adopts Enlightenment and humanist values, he will embrace both reason over over faith and an inclusive view of humanity. These make one a better person.

 

[PureX]

I'm not surprised that accepting evolution is inversely correlated with bigotry, but I doubt that accepting evolution will make anybody a better person. If one adopts Enlightenment and humanist values, he will embrace both reason over over faith and an inclusive view of humanity. These make one a better person.

And they will be more likely to be named "Bob".

 

[Heyo]

Or so says a very large international scale study.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-disbelief-human-evolution-linked-greater.html

Excerpts are quoted below




We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

Correlation doesn't equate causation.
I suspect a deeper cause for both phenomena (and other phenomena usually seen in conjunction with them).

 

[Kenny]

Or so says a very large international scale study.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-disbelief-human-evolution-linked-greater.html

Excerpts are quoted below




We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

I find it highly suspect IMO. Too many variables to relegate it to a single factor.

 

[Nimos]

We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

I think it makes sense, I don't know about racism though. But most, if not all religions are built around the idea of being special and belonging to a certain group. And as we know you can't be in several groups, being a Muslim and Christian at the same time etc.

So if one is raised, taught or value the idea of being amongst the "right" people, obviously one will have a tendency to look at others as being wrong. I do however think that this is true about atheists as well.

But given that all atheists support the the theory of evolution, we do recognize that we all came from the same place. We weren't created by a specific God(s) or are special in that regard compare to another animal.

 

[sayak83]

I think that identifying any one belief as making someone better or worse is probably overly simplistic. A number of determining factors go into what people believe typically and saying that a single factor is all that matters is well.. silly.

The study never says that it is the single factor. It says that after controlling for the effect of other factors, having this belief shows a positive effect over a person's traits.

 

[sayak83]

I say it's a load of biased crap. Mostly because it can't actually establish a connection between the idea of biological evolution and any of the intellectual changes it claims "belief in evolution" to be responsible for. Since all of those changes are very likely to have a whole myriad of cultural causes that have nothing to do with the idea of evolution.

It's like claiming that people not named Elisha, Jacob, and Jubal are more likely to be secular humanists, so those names must cause people not to be secular humanists. When the names have no direct relation to not being secular humanists at all, but are just corralive indicators of conservative religious parents choosing biblical names for their children.

The study shows a positive correlation exists that is unlikely due to chance. It is of course a point that whether this belief is a cause or it is a part of a network of other beliefs that is the cause. But it is an inducator.
The researchers did say that they controlled for other beliefs or life situations and this effect remained after that. So one cannot simply dismiss it out of hand.

 

[sayak83]

I find it highly suspect IMO. Too many variables to relegate it to a single factor.

Not a single factor. One contributing factor whose effect remains significant after controlling for other factors.

 

[sayak83]

I can't find a link to the paper in this article. Is there one that I have missed, or do I need to look it up independently?

I have a suspicion there may be a correlation with overall level of education, though I see the researchers are said to have corrected for various confounding factors. So I'd like to read the paper, ideally.

I note, though, that they have found the result is true for both religious believers and non-believers. So one conclusion we cannot draw from this, apparently, is that religious believers are more prejudiced.

APA PsycNet

 

[GardenLady]

The study never says that it is the single factor. It says that after controlling for the effect of other factors, having this belief shows a positive effect over a person's traits.

What other factors? In my experience (which is obviously not a random and statistically valid sample), rejection of evolution is associated with residence in the South or Midwest, conservative social and political views, and religiosity. So what did they control for?

I don't doubt the conclusion, but again, that is based on my personal experience. I'd like to see the data.

 

[Audie]

Or so says a very large international scale study.
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-disbelief-human-evolution-linked-greater.html

Excerpts are quoted below




We see that here is an example of how a scientifically grounded insight into our origins and connections to the rest of humanity and the living world can open our minds and hearts into becoming a better human being.

The study also destroys the claim that somehow belief in evolution is a detriment to our moral character. In fact it is established now that the opposite us true. Disbelief in the scientific understanding of human nature is far more likely to create worse human beings regardless of religious beliefs or ethnicities.

What say others?

Adding the original paper link
APA PsycNet

I say you are getting cause and effect mixed up

 

[PureX]

The study shows a positive correlation exists that is unlikely due to chance. It is of course a point that whether this belief is a cause or it is a part of a network of other beliefs that is the cause. But it is an inducator.
The researchers did say that they controlled for other beliefs or life situations and this effect remained after that. So one cannot simply dismiss it out of hand.

Correlation is not causation. It's statistics 101. Without accounting for ALL affecting factors, and the degree to which they affect an outcome, proclaiming the significance of any one factor on an outcome is meaningless except as support for a bias.