Mentalizing skills do not differentiate believers from non-believers, but credibility enhancing displays do

Détails

Ressource 1Télécharger: Maji et al., PLOS 2017 Mentalizing_skills_do_not_differentiate_believers_.pdf (5684.66 [Ko])
Etat: Public
Version: de l'auteur⸱e
ID Serval
serval:BIB_5490826FB64F
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Mentalizing skills do not differentiate believers from non-believers, but credibility enhancing displays do
Périodique
PLOS ONE
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Maij David. L. R., van Harreveld Frenk, Gervais Will, Schrag Yann, Mohr Christine, van Elk Michiel
ISSN
1932-6203
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
23/08/2017
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
12
Numéro
8
Pages
e0182764
Langue
anglais
Résumé
The ability to mentalize has been marked as an important cognitive mechanism enabling belief in supernatural agents. In five studies we cross-culturally investigated the relationship between mentalizing and belief in supernatural agents with large sample sizes (over 67,000 participants in total) and different operationalizations of mentalizing. The relative importance of mentalizing for endorsing supernatural beliefs was directly compared with credibility enhancing displays–the extent to which people observed credible religious acts during their upbringing. We also compared autistic with neurotypical adolescents. The empathy quotient and the autism-spectrum quotient were not predictive of belief in supernatural agents in all countries (i.e., The Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States), although we did observe a curvilinear effect in the United States. We further observed a strong influence of credibility enhancing displays on belief in supernatural agents. These findings highlight the importance of cultural learning for acquiring supernatural beliefs and ask for reconsiderations of the importance of mentalizing.
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Oui
Création de la notice
12/01/2018 13:13
Dernière modification de la notice
20/08/2019 15:09
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