Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations

Lynn, Richard; Harvey, John H.; Nyborg, Helmuth

doi:10.1016/j.intell.2008.03.004

Cited by 140 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

109

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Cross-national research in mean IQ is a relatively new field but has already produced a number of studies which have sought predictors of variation in IQ. Such putative predictors have included temperature and skin colour (Templer & Arikawa, 2006), evolutionary novelty (Kanazawa, 2008), irreligion (Lynn, Harvey, & Nyborg, 2009), inbreeding (Woodley, 2009) and a range of economic factors (e.g. Dickerson, 2006).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical inference and spatial patterns in correlates of IQ

Hassall

Sherratt

2011

Intelligence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cross-national comparisons of IQ have become common since the release of a large dataset of international IQ scores. However, these studies have consistently failed to consider the potential lack of independence of these scores based on spatial proximity. To demonstrate the importance of this omission, we present a re-evaluation of several hypotheses put forward to explain variation in mean IQ among nations namely: (i) distance from central Africa, (ii) temperature, (iii) parasites, (iv) nutrition, (v) education, and (vi) GDP. We quantify the strength of spatial autocorrelation (SAC) in the predictors, response variables and the residuals of multiple regression models explaining national mean IQ. We outline a procedure for the control of SAC in such analyses and highlight the differences in the results before and after control for SAC. We find that incorporating additional terms to control for spatial interdependence increases the fit of models with no loss of parsimony. Support is provided for the finding that a national index of parasite burden and national IQ are strongly linked and temperature also features strongly in the models. However, we tentatively recommend a physiological via impacts on host-parasite interactions rather than evolutionary explanation for the effect of temperature. We present this study primarily to highlight the danger of ignoring autocorrelation in spatially extended data, and outline an appropriate approach should a spatially explicit analysis be considered necessary.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statistical inference and spatial patterns in correlates of IQ

Hassall

Sherratt

2011

Intelligence

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This variable relates to the percentage of people saying that they are atheist, nonbelievers, or not believers in a "personal" God (Lynn, Harvey, & Nyborg, 2009;Zuckerman, 2007). This is the inverse measure to culture-level religiousness.…”

Section: External Validity Criterion Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An attempt to validate national mean scores of Conscientiousness: No necessarily paradoxical findings

Mõttus

Allik

Realo

2010

Journal of Research in Personality

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Three large cross-cultural databases on personality were used to study the relationship between culture-level mean scores of Conscientiousness and 18 country-level criterion variables including health indicators, religiosity, democracy, corruption, economic wealth and freedom, and the presence of a favorable business environment. Mean Conscientiousness scores were significantly related to most of the criteria but different facets of Conscientiousness had very different relationships with external criteria. In several facets, the patterns of relationships to the external criteria were consistent with clearly formulated predictions. The pattern of relationships was moderated by the type of ratings (self-vs observer-ratings). More rigorous requirements for the study of the culture-level relationships between personality and criterion variables are discussed.Validity of Culture-Level Personality Scores

show abstract

“…An example was shown by Lynn, et al (Lynn 2008). They showed that the belief in God diminishes with I.Q.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 95%

The Perception of Anthropogenic Global Warming Modeled by Game Theory Decision Tables

Stallinga

Khmelinskii

2016

ESJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Society is living in fear of catastrophic climate scenarios, the so called Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) theory. It is a multidisciplinary subject; this paper analyzes the psychology behind such thinking which is governing the perception and politics of the subject. It does this in so-called Game Theory decision tables for people's thinking. We come to the conclusion that current opinion in society will shift from 'active believer' to 'passive believer' to 'active non-believer' if evidence against AGW will continue to accumulate.

show abstract

Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations

Cited by 140 publications

References 9 publications

Statistical inference and spatial patterns in correlates of IQ

Statistical inference and spatial patterns in correlates of IQ

An attempt to validate national mean scores of Conscientiousness: No necessarily paradoxical findings

The Perception of Anthropogenic Global Warming Modeled by Game Theory Decision Tables

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About