How you think and solve problems may relate closely to how strongly you believe in God, according to a study by Harvard University.

“In a series of studies, investigators found that people with a more intuitive thinking style tend to have stronger beliefs in God than those with a more reflective style. Intuitive thinking means going with one’s first instinct and reaching decisions quickly based on automatic cognitive processes,” writes Rick Nauert in a Sept. 21 release from Harvard University.

Reflective thinking, on the other hand, involves questioning one’s first instinct and considering other possibilities, thus allowing for counterintuitive decisions.

The research was published online in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.
In the first part of the study, researchers presented an online survey to 882 U.S. adults (64 percent of them women), with a mean age of 33.

The survey first assessed the participants’ belief in God. Then it provided questions to find out each person’s cognitive style. To do this the survey presented three math problems with incorrect answers that seemed intuitive.

For example, one question stated: “A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?”

The automatic or intuitive answer is 10 cents, but the correct answer is 5 cents.

Participants who had more incorrect answers showed a greater reliance on intuition than reflection in their thinking style.

Participants who gave intuitive answers to all three problems were one and a half times as likely to report they were convinced of God’s existence as those who answered all of the questions correctly.

And this pattern did not depend on other demographic factors, such as the participants’ political beliefs, education or income.

“Researchers also discovered participants with an intuitive thinking style also were more likely to have become more confident believers in God over their lifetimes, regardless of whether they had a religious upbringing,” writes Nauert.

On the other hand, “individuals with a reflective style tended to become less confident in their belief in God.”

Researchers make the point, however, that the association between thinking styles and religious beliefs were not tied to the participants’ thinking ability or IQ.

“Basic ways of thinking about problem solving in your everyday life are predictive of how much you believe in God,” writes one researcher. “It’s not that one way is better than the other. Intuitions are important and reflection is important, and you want some balance of the two. Where you are on that spectrum affects how you come out in terms of belief in God.”

Researchers warn, though, that the trend can go in the opposite direction, that a belief in God may lead to intuitive thinking.

What does this mean for us? Note that this research has nothing to do with the content of religious belief. For instance, how strongly we may believe in God has nothing to do with whether or not God exists.

What this study may help us do is be more tolerant of one another’s beliefs. While some of us may be able to express clear and confident beliefs, others of us may experience some doubt and need to reflect.