Religious people tend to be less intelligent and happier

Faith and religion have been constant elements in the history of humanity from its first moments. Where did the sea, day and night, or even life come from? What are we and why are we like this? What meaning does our life have? Through different explanations, they sought to give meaning to the existing reality, forging beliefs that would end up being fixed and transmitted throughout the generations.

Many of these beliefs have been structured in the form of different religions that, although on the one hand, have served for a long time to give hope and meaning to our surroundings, they have also been used to manipulate and control the behavior of our similar.

However, beyond the social effect of religions, you are also associated with personal psychological characteristics. For example, it is known that religious people are statistically less intelligent and happier than average.

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The psychological effects of faith

Religion has traditionally been based on faith, but the explanations of reality it often adopts tend not to be testable through experience.

Many of the precepts that different religions have defended have been shown to have an explanation different from that proposed by science. The perception that on many occasions faith has been used as a method of control and manipulation, has generated that with the passage of time the number of believers and the role of religiosity in in recent times, as a larger amount of the population can find information that calls into question dogmas religious.

The fact of believing or not doing it tends to generate some differences in the way of conceptualizing the world and reality. Next we will see a series of differences between religious and non-religious people.

Differential characteristics between believers and non-believers

A great deal of research has been done on the differences between religious and non-religious for different purposes and from different perspectives. Some of the results reflected by said investigations are the following.

1. Relationship between level of intelligence and religiosity

Various studies and meta-analyses carried out with different sectors of the population establish that there is an inverse relationship between intellectual performance and religiosity. Although these data reflect that generally people with higher IQs tend to be less religious, these data should be viewed with caution. In fact, the studies carried out do not reflect that this relationship is causal (that is, it is not established that it is more intelligent due to not being religious or vice versa), being able to obey the relationship found to different variables.

There are various hypotheses about these results, indicating for example that the presence of a higher intellectual level makes it more possible to discuss and not accept imposed ideas externally, with which orthodox or inflexible positions can be rejected and non-conformist positions can be adopted more easily. Likewise, many people with a higher intellectual level tend to require a more logical and analytical explanation of events. Another of the hypotheses proposes that a high intelligence can also allow to tolerate uncertainty and offer a framework for action in cases of necessity, which makes it less necessary to seek an explanation of a specific nature spiritual.

2. anxiety level

Other studies show that religious people have a more defined framework of behavior and an explanation of reality than makes it easier for them to have a lower level of life uncertainty. They also show a lower level of concern about making mistakes. These aspects are linked to less activation of the anterior cingulate, part of the brain related to the response to stress and anxiety, in believers compared to non-believers.

3. Survival and well-being in diseases

Religiosity seems to contribute to prolonging survival in cases of serious diseases, as well as to improve the quality of life of people whose disorders are chronic. Less uncertainty and faith of people with religious and spiritual beliefs make them more resilient by being able to lean on those beliefs in difficult times.

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4. Tendency to tolerance

Non-believers generally tend to be more tolerant. with other ways of seeing life different from their own than those who profess a high level of religiosity. Professing a faith means limiting oneself to a specific framework of thought and action that differs with that of others, which in some cases facilitates the birth of fanaticism and discrimination towards others.

5. Subjective well-being

Believers tend to show a higher level of well-being in various studies, partly due to the feeling of belonging which means sharing something with others, such as faith. However, it must be taken into account that this data may depend to a large extent on the place where the survey is carried out and how the religion in question is viewed socially.

Bibliographic references:

• Zuckerman, M.; Silberman, J. & Hall, J.A. (2013). The relationship between intelligence and religiosity: A meta-analysis and some proposed explanations. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14 (4).

• Lim, C. & Putnam, R.D. (2010). Religion, Social Networks and Life Satisfaction. American Sociological Review, 75(6).