The intelligence–religiosity nexus: A representative study of white adolescent Americans

Intelligence and religiosity: Within families and over time

“…Finally, the current study is consistent with the cumulative evidence about the negative effect of intelligence on religiosity (e.g., Bertsch & Pesta, 2009;Kanazawa, 2010;Lynn et al, 2009;Nyborg, 2009;Reeve, 2009;Reeve & Basalik, 2011), and with the views that intelligence, because of its association with rationalism, skepticism, and feeling of control over nature, leads to secularism (e.g., Frazer, 1922;Inglehart & Welzel, 2005;Kuhlen & Arnold, 1944). The main contribution of the current study is that it examines the relationship between intelligence and religiosity within families and over time.…”

“…The retention rate in 2008 was 83.7%. 1 Similarly, the aggregate level results of Lynn et al (2009) andNyborg (2009) are also susceptible to alternative explanations, about a third variable underlying both intelligence and religiosity. 2 We acknowledge the possibility of alternative explanations for the relationship between education and religiosity.…”

“…These studies too found a negative relationship between intelligence and religiosity. In addition, two recent studies also found a negative relationship between intelligence and religiosity on the aggregate level, either by correlating average national intelligence with average national religiosity (Lynn, Harvey, & Nyborg, 2009), or by relating average denominations' intelligence to the strength of their religious beliefs (Nyborg, 2009).…”

Expanding the g-nexus: Further evidence regarding the relations among national IQ, religiosity and national health outcomes

“…For example, Howells (1928) and Sinclair (1928) both reported studies documenting a negative correlation between intelligence and religious beliefs. More recently, researchers have incorporated this relationship into the g-nexus (e.g., Bertsch & Pesta, 2009;Lynn et al, 2009;Nyborg, 2009).…”

“…For example, IQ is a predictor of productivity at the individual level (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998), thus national IQ should predict national productivity as measured by gross domestic product; a prediction that has been empirically confirmed (e.g., Hunt & Wittmann, 2008;Whetzel & McDaniel, 2006). Likewise, previous research has also established that the IQ-religiosity relationship known to exist at the individual level (e.g., Nyborg, 2009) transfers to the national level (Lynn et al, 2009). Thus it can be hypothesized that national IQ should predict national health statistics.…”