{"id":9559,"date":"2021-07-28T20:09:01","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T19:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/?p=9559"},"modified":"2021-07-28T20:09:01","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T19:09:01","slug":"new-paper-out-the-negative-religiousness-iq-nexus-is-a-jensen-effect-on-individual-level-data-a-refutation-of-dutton-et-al-s-the-myth-of-the-stupid-believer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/2021\/07\/new-paper-out-the-negative-religiousness-iq-nexus-is-a-jensen-effect-on-individual-level-data-a-refutation-of-dutton-et-al-s-the-myth-of-the-stupid-believer\/","title":{"rendered":"New paper out: The Negative Religiousness-IQ Nexus is a Jensen Effect on Individual-Level Data: A Refutation of Dutton et al.\u2019s \u2018The Myth of the Stupid Believer\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"csl-bib-body\">\n<ul>\n<li class=\"csl-entry\">Dutton, E., &amp; Kirkegaard, E. O. W. (2021). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/353465907_The_Negative_Religiousness-IQ_Nexus_is_a_Jensen_Effect_on_Individual-Level_Data_A_Refutation_of_Dutton_et_al's_'The_Myth_of_the_Stupid_Believer'\">The Negative Religiousness-IQ Nexus is a Jensen Effect on Individual-Level Data: A Refutation of Dutton et al.\u2019s \u2018The Myth of the Stupid Believer.\u2019<\/a> <i>Journal of Religion and Health<\/i>. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10943-021-01351-1\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10943-021-01351-1<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div id=\"Abs1-content\" class=\"c-article-section__content\">\n<p>A recent study by Dutton et al. (J Relig Health 59:1567\u20131579. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10943-019-00926-3\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10943-019-00926-3<\/a>, 2020) found that the religiousness-IQ nexus is not on <i>g<\/i> when comparing different groups with various degrees of religiosity and the non-religious. It suggested, accordingly, that the nexus related to the relationship between specialized analytic abilities on the IQ test and autism traits, with the latter predicting atheism. The study was limited by the fact that it was on group-level data, it used only one measure of religiosity that measure may have been confounded by the social element to church membership and it involved relatively few items via which a Jensen effect could be calculated. Here, we test whether the religiousness-IQ nexus is on <i>g<\/i> with individual-level data using archival data from the Vietnam Experience Study, in which 4462 US veterans were subjected to detailed psychological tests. We used multiple measures of religiosity\u2014which we factor-analysed to a religion-factor\u2014and a large number of items. We found, contrary to the findings of Dutton et al. (2020), that the IQ differences with regard to whether or not subjects believed in God are indeed a Jensen effect. We also uncovered a number of anomalies, which we explore.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Keywords<\/span><\/strong> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Religion \u00b7 Intelligence \u00b7 Cognitive ability \u00b7 Jensen effect \u00b7 Differential <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">item functioning \u00b7 Local structural equation models \u00b7 Item response theory<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It&#8217;s a methods paper that essentially replies to Dutton&#8217;s own prior paper (with colleagues). We use much better methods and find the opposite, boring conclusion.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KirkegaardEmil\/status\/1420459042682585092\">Twitter thread.<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1dbjc4n\">\n<div class=\"css-1dbjc4n r-1s2bzr4\">\n<div id=\"id__kzr8k4r8i5h\" class=\"css-901oao r-18jsvk2 r-1qd0xha r-1blvdjr r-16dba41 r-vrz42v r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0\" dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">We show that prior negative results are due to toward-0 bias from Jensen&#8217;s method when used with small gaps and small sample sizes (unreliability of the gap vectors).<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9560\" src=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Zn_grXEAUVtYU.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"942\" height=\"1323\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Zn_grXEAUVtYU.jpeg 942w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Zn_grXEAUVtYU-214x300.jpeg 214w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Zn_grXEAUVtYU-729x1024.jpeg 729w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Zn_grXEAUVtYU-768x1079.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 942px) 100vw, 942px\" \/><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\">\n<div class=\"css-1dbjc4n\">\n<div class=\"css-1dbjc4n r-1s2bzr4\">\n<div id=\"id__xqahqgag47\" class=\"css-901oao r-18jsvk2 r-1qd0xha r-1blvdjr r-16dba41 r-vrz42v r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0\" dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">We use data from the awesome Vietnam Experience Study (VES) which has 19 cognitive tests, and all the MMPI-2 items, many of which ask about religious matters.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9561\" src=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7ZoLeeXoAsnrYY.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"982\" height=\"678\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7ZoLeeXoAsnrYY.png 982w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7ZoLeeXoAsnrYY-300x207.png 300w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7ZoLeeXoAsnrYY-768x530.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 982px) 100vw, 982px\" \/><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\">\n<div class=\"css-1dbjc4n\">\n<div class=\"css-1dbjc4n r-1s2bzr4\"><span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">Factor analyzing the religious items yields a kind of semi-continuous religiousness latent variable. This is related to intelligence at -0.20 ish.<\/span><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9562\" src=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7ZobT-X0AEUdY6.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"928\" height=\"1281\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7ZobT-X0AEUdY6.jpeg 928w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7ZobT-X0AEUdY6-217x300.jpeg 217w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7ZobT-X0AEUdY6-742x1024.jpeg 742w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7ZobT-X0AEUdY6-768x1060.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 928px) 100vw, 928px\" \/><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\">\n<div class=\"css-1dbjc4n\">\n<div class=\"css-1dbjc4n r-1s2bzr4\">\n<p id=\"id__5q4v65s6bv8\" class=\"css-901oao r-18jsvk2 r-1qd0xha r-1blvdjr r-16dba41 r-vrz42v r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0\" dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><span class=\"css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\">Using our battery of tests, we find the usual strong Jensen pattern.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9563\" src=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z57ygXoAYtGU6.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"953\" height=\"1274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z57ygXoAYtGU6.jpeg 953w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z57ygXoAYtGU6-224x300.jpeg 224w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z57ygXoAYtGU6-766x1024.jpeg 766w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z57ygXoAYtGU6-768x1027.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 953px) 100vw, 953px\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\">Regression analysis does not show any obvious confounding with age, race, or even education and income. Effect of intelligence seems pretty direct.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9564\" src=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6NE5XMAAzvFi.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1516\" height=\"799\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6NE5XMAAzvFi.jpeg 1516w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6NE5XMAAzvFi-300x158.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6NE5XMAAzvFi-1024x540.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6NE5XMAAzvFi-768x405.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1516px) 100vw, 1516px\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\">We go further. We have access to some 200 items too, and these also show the Jensen pattern. Note the outliers! The one item that is way out of place is WAIS Information 18, which in fact asks about contents of the Bible. Religious people get it right a lot more often.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9565\" src=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6ftyWQAUtPUj.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"956\" height=\"1260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6ftyWQAUtPUj.jpeg 956w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6ftyWQAUtPUj-228x300.jpeg 228w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6ftyWQAUtPUj-777x1024.jpeg 777w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z6ftyWQAUtPUj-768x1012.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 956px) 100vw, 956px\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\">Finally, we find that the various indicators of religiousness show quite different associations to intelligence. It is mainly the belief-related indicators that relate, not behaviors. This is also true when controls are added.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-9566\" src=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z7u_5X0AI1U-l.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"983\" height=\"688\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z7u_5X0AI1U-l.jpeg 983w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z7u_5X0AI1U-l-300x210.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/E7Z7u_5X0AI1U-l-768x538.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 983px) 100vw, 983px\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\" lang=\"en\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dutton, E., &amp; Kirkegaard, E. O. W. (2021). The Negative Religiousness-IQ Nexus is a Jensen Effect on Individual-Level Data: A Refutation of Dutton et al.\u2019s \u2018The Myth of the Stupid Believer.\u2019 Journal of Religion and Health. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10943-021-01351-1 A recent study by Dutton et al. (J Relig Health 59:1567\u20131579. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10943-019-00926-3, 2020) found that the religiousness-IQ nexus [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":9560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2591],"tags":[2253,2036,2625],"class_list":["post-9559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-intelligence-iq-cognitive-ability","tag-jensens-method","tag-method-of-correlated-vectors","tag-religiousness","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9567,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9559\/revisions\/9567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}