Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University.
Department of Psychology, Princeton University.
Cogn Sci. 2022 Apr;46(4):e13129. doi: 10.1111/cogs.13129.
How and why does the moon cause the tides? How and why does God answer prayers? For many, the answer to the former question is unknown; the answer to the latter question is a mystery. Across three studies testing a largely Christian sample within the United States (N = 2524), we investigate attitudes toward ignorance and inquiry as a window onto scientific versus religious belief. In Experiment 1, we find that science and religion are associated with different forms of ignorance: scientific ignorance is typically expressed as a personal unknown ("it's unknown to me"), whereas religious ignorance is expressed as a universal mystery ("it's a mystery"), with scientific unknowns additionally regarded as more viable and valuable targets for inquiry. In Experiment 2, we show that these forms of ignorance are differentially associated with epistemic goals and norms: expressing ignorance in the form of "unknown" (vs. "mystery") more strongly signals epistemic values and achievements. Experiments 2 and 3 additionally show that ignorance is perceived to be a greater threat to science and scientific belief than to religion and religious belief. Together, these studies shed light on the psychological roles of scientific and religious belief in human cognition.
月亮是如何以及为何引起潮汐的？上帝又是如何以及为何回应祈祷的？对于许多人来说，前者的答案是未知的；而对于后者，答案则是一个谜。本研究通过三项在美国进行的、主要针对基督教群体的测试（N=2524），探究了人们对无知和探究的态度，以此来揭示科学信仰与宗教信仰的区别。在实验 1 中，我们发现科学和宗教与不同形式的无知相关联：科学无知通常表现为个人的未知（“对我来说是未知的”），而宗教无知则表现为普遍的神秘（“这是一个谜”），此外，人们还认为科学未知更有可能成为探究的目标，并且更有价值。在实验 2 中，我们表明这些形式的无知与认知目标和规范呈不同的关联：以“未知”（而非“神秘”）的形式表达无知更强烈地传递了认知价值和成就。实验 2 和 3 还表明，与宗教信仰相比，人们认为无知对科学和科学信仰的威胁更大。总之，这些研究揭示了科学和宗教信仰在人类认知中的心理作用。
