The Psychology of Belief - Are the Religious Less Intelligent?

In this clip, Dr. Lack addresses the question, "Are believers stupid?"

[emrkqof]

Oh, I am a psychology student and this is not firmly true. Religious individuals do in scales of percentages seem to be less logical and less educated.

[kpcixqnx]

One more thing
Science convinces people with logic
Religion threatens people with emotion

[davec]

Well said. We’re all born with the same capacity to learn.  Religion, however, can alter one’s learning curve.  Speaking from experience.  Dogma placed me in a very myopic world.  Now, as a freethinker, the aperture of my mind has expanded greatly.  It’s a mind blowing experience!

[strafrag]

A woman I know is a psychologist in a rural area and she says most of her patients are overly religious. The problem is that the religious do push their beliefs onto the rest of us.

[mr.nobody]

Their IQ might be normal, but their psychological condition is in mess.

[Dankpuffin]

There is no relationship but the more intelligent a period the more they are capable of escaping the grasp of religion for science.

[hekje]

I'm the only member of my family who made it to university.



I am also the only atheist.

[venture]

Most balanced thing I've seen. "A wise man knows he knows nothing" 💯

[Adamantium]

I agree with everything Dr. Lack says here; however, I submit that his last point is largely moot since almost all faith can potentially have the adverse effects on others that he describes.

[Voldemorts_Mom]

This is a good example of what being atheist is all about:) thinking critically and making a decision based on evidence, and not just hating on religious people, but rather understating them

[echomjp]

Intelligence in some way is not linked to your beliefs. However, the very thing this video talks about (only keeping score for things that reinforce your belief) is something that those who are more...logically-minded are able to avoid.

Your upbringing will make it more or less difficult to overcome preconceived notions, of course. However, the capability to change your opinions based on logic and evidence, accepting it until something better comes along, is an important aspect of intelligence.

[boneappletea]

1:42 so is it just me or does wanting to teach creationism over evolution or even both sound stupid? You'd have to be less intelligent to truly believe something so absurd and have it mean so much to u that you'd use it to harm others by telling them what to do with their bodies, teach creationism in schools, and infuse absurd antiquated mythology into modern law practices. It's not about freedom of religion. It's about the dominant religion's freedom to dominate.

[forfreedom]

Intelligence and education are two separate things. It is possible to be well educated without having a high degree of intelligence.

[artellis]

Remember, if the patient recovered, it was the power of prayer. If the patient dies, it was the Will of God. Don't try winning arguments with fundamentalists. Believe me, I've tried for almost half a century now.

[Truther]

*_Isn't some degree of idiocy required in order to ignore the outcomes that don't align with one's beliefs?_* 🤔

[heidiooohs]

Very well done, Seth. I admire your ability to create informative, unbias videos such as this. The question of "intelligence" is subjective in itself; many people can be "unintelligent" in different aspects, and I would consider it unfair to call someone religious unintelligent or stupid.

[KhaosReborn]

You could also argue the difference between intelligence and the willingness to learn new things, i.e., the capacity to learn and understand complex principles vs the willingness to do so.

[Facepalm-Guy]

Fast forward to 2022: The answer is yes.

[jasonutty]

You could be the most intelligent person in the world, but if you believe in a magical deity that lives in the sky, you might have some logical errors going on there.

[SeedlingNL]

Intelligence definitely plays a role. Without intelligence, how are you to weigh one thing against another? Suspension of disbelief equals suspension of intelligence.