Atheism

=== Wealth, education, and reasoning style ===

{{Further|Religiosity and education}}

[[File:2012-02-14_UAAR_Darwin_Day_Pievani_01.jpg|thumb|Darwin Day 2012 in Rome organised by Italian atheists and agnostics.]]
Various studies have reported positive correlations between levels of education, wealth and [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]] with atheism.<ref name="VyseSI">{{cite journal |last1=Vyse |first1=Stuart |title=Are atheists sadder but wiser? |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |date=April 2020 |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=31–33}}</ref><ref name="GeggelLiveScience">{{cite web |last1=Geggel |first1=Laura |title=Why are atheists generally smarter than religious people |url=https://www.livescience.com/59361-why-are-atheists-generally-more-intelligent.html |website=LiveScience |date=June 5, 2017 |publisher=Future US Inc. |access-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-date=March 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324203444/https://www.livescience.com/59361-why-are-atheists-generally-more-intelligent.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="intmag">{{Cite journal |last1=Lynn |first1=Richard |author-link=Richard Lynn |last2=Harvey |first2=John |last3=Nyborg |first3=Helmuth |title=Average intelligence predicts atheism rates across 137 nations |journal=[[Intelligence (journal)|Intelligence]] |year=2009 |volume=37 |pages=11–15 |doi=10.1016/j.intell.2008.03.004}}</ref><ref name="Zuckerman" /> In a 2008 study, researchers found intelligence to be negatively related to religious belief in Europe and the United States. In a sample of 137 countries, the correlation between national IQ and disbelief in God was found to be 0.60.<ref name="intmag"/> According to evolutionary psychologist [[Nigel Barber]], atheism blossoms in places where most people feel economically secure, particularly in the [[Social democracy|social democracies]] of Europe, as there is less uncertainty about the future with extensive social safety nets and better health care resulting in a greater quality of life and higher life expectancy. By contrast, in underdeveloped countries, there are far fewer atheists.<ref>Nigel Barber (May 18, 2010). [https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-beast/201005/why-atheism-will-replace-religion Why Atheism Will Replace Religion] . ''[[Psychology Today]]''. Retrieved March 17, 2021.</ref>

The relationship between atheism and IQ, while statistically significant, is not a large one, and the reason for the relationship is not well understood.<ref name="VyseSI" /> One hypothesis is that the negative relationship between IQ and religiosity is mediated by individual differences in nonconformity; in many countries, religious belief is a conformist choice, and there is evidence that more intelligent people are less likely to conform.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rhodes |first1=Nancy |last2=Wood |first2=Wendy |title=Self-esteem and intelligence affect influenceability |journal=Psychological Bulletin |date=1992 |volume=111 |issue=1 |pages=156–171 |doi=10.1037/0033-2909.111.1.156}}</ref> Another theory is that people of higher IQ are more likely to engage in analytical reasoning, and that disbelief in religion results from the application of higher-level analytical reasoning to the assessment of religious claims.<ref name="VyseSI" />

In a 2017 study, it was shown that compared to religious individuals, atheists have higher reasoning capacities and this difference seemed to be unrelated to sociodemographic factors such as age, education and country of origin.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Daws |first1=Richard |last2=Hampshire |first2=Adam |title=The Negative Relationship between Reasoning and Religiosity Is Underpinned by a Bias for Intuitive Responses Specifically When Intuition and Logic Are in Conflict |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |date=December 19, 2017 |volume=8 |issue=2191 |page=2191 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02191 |pmid=29312057 |pmc=5742220 |doi-access=free }}</ref> In a 2015 study, researchers found that atheists score higher on cognitive reflection tests than theists, the authors wrote that "The fact that atheists score higher agrees with the literature showing that belief is an automatic manifestation of the mind and its default mode. Disbelieving seems to require deliberative cognitive ability."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Da Silva |first1=Sergio |last2=Matsushita |first2=Raul |last3=Seifert |first3=Guilherme |last4=De Carvalho |first4=Mateus |title=Atheists score higher on cognitive reflection tests |journal=MPRA Paper |issue=68451 |url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/68451/2/MPRA_paper_68451.pdf |access-date=July 20, 2020 |archive-date=March 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321211303/https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/68451/2/MPRA_paper_68451.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2016 study, in which 4 new studies were reported and a meta-analysis of all previous research on the topic was performed, found that self-identified atheists scored 18.7% higher than theists on the cognitive reflection test and there is a negative correlation between religiosity and analytical thinking. The authors note that recently "it has been argued that analytic thinkers are not actually less religious; rather, the putative association may be a result of religiosity typically being measured after analytic thinking (an order effect)," however, they state "Our results indicate that the association between analytical thinking and religious disbelief is not caused by a simple order effect. There is good evidence that atheists and agnostics are more reflective than religious believers."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pennycook |first1=Gordon |author-link=Gordon Pennycook |last2=Ross |first2=Robert |last3=Koehler |first3=Derek |last4=Fugelsang |first4=Jonathan |date=April 2016 |title=Atheists and Agnostics Are More Reflective than Religious Believers: Four Empirical Studies and a Meta-Analysis |url= |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=e0153039 |bibcode=2016PLoSO..1153039P |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0153039 |pmc=4824409 |pmid=27054566 |doi-access=free}}</ref> This "analytic atheist" effect has also been found among academic philosophers, even when controlling for about a dozen potential confounds such as education.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Byrd |first1=Nick |title=Great Minds do not Think Alike: Philosophers' Views Predicted by Reflection, Education, Personality, and Other Demographic Differences |journal=Review of Philosophy and Psychology |date=2022 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=647–684 |doi=10.1007/s13164-022-00628-y |s2cid=247911367 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-022-00628-y}}</ref>

However, some studies do not detect this correlation between atheism and analytic thinking in all of the countries that they study,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gervais |first1=Will M. |last2=van Elk |first2=Michiel |last3=Xygalatas |first3=Dimitris |last4=McKay |first4=Ryan |last5=Aveyard |first5=Mark |last6=Buchtel |first6=Emma E. |last7=Dar-Nimrod |first7=Ilan |last8=Klocová |first8=Eva Kundtová |last9=Ramsay |first9=Jonathan E. |last10=Riekki |first10=Tapani |last11=Svedholm-Häkkinen |first11=Annika M. |last12=Bulbulia |first12=Joseph |title=Analytic atheism: A cross-culturally weak and fickle phenomenon? |journal=Judgment and Decision-making |date=2018 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=268–274 |doi=10.1017/S1930297500007701 |url=http://journal.sjdm.org/18/18228/jdm18228.pdf |access-date=April 6, 2022 |archive-date=February 21, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221113759/http://journal.sjdm.org/18/18228/jdm18228.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> suggesting that the relationship between analytic thinking and atheism may depend on culture.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gervais |first1=Will M. |last2=Najle |first2=Maxine B. |last3=Caluori |first3=Nava |title=The Origins of Religious Disbelief: A Dual Inheritance Approach |journal=Social Psychological and Personality Science |date=2021 |volume=12 |issue=7 |pages=1369–1379 |doi=10.1177/1948550621994001 |s2cid=233804304 |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550621994001}}</ref> There is also evidence that gender may be involved in the so-called analytic atheist effect: because men have been found more likely to endorse atheism,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schnell |first1=Tatjana |last2=de Boer |first2=Elpine |last3=Alma |first3=Hans |title=Worlds apart? Atheist, agnostic, and humanist worldviews in three European countries |journal=Psychology of Religion and Spirituality |date=2021 |volume=15 |pages=83–93 |doi=10.1037/rel0000446 |hdl=1887/3307612 |s2cid=242996508 |url=https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000446|hdl-access=free }}</ref> and men often perform slightly better on tests of analytic thinking<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maloney |first1=Erin A. |last2=Retanal |first2=Fraulein |title=Higher math anxious people have a lower need for cognition and are less reflective in their thinking |journal=Acta Psychologica |date=2021 |volume=202 |page=102939 |doi=10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102939 |pmid=31805479 |s2cid=208768799 |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.102939}}</ref> when not controlling for variables such as math anxiety,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Primi |first1=Caterina |last2=Donati |first2=Maria Anna |last3=Chiesi |first3=Francesca |last4=Morsanyi |first4=Kinga |title=Are there gender differences in cognitive reflection? Invariance and differences related to mathematics |journal=Thinking & Reasoning |date=2018 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=258–279 |doi=10.1080/13546783.2017.1387606 |s2cid=55892851 |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13546783.2017.1387606}}</ref> the correlation between atheism and analytic reasoning may be partly explained by whatever explains observed gender differences in analytic thinking.