Interhemispheric interaction and beliefs on our origin: Degree of handedness predicts beliefs in creationism versus evolution

It has been suggested that strongly handed individuals have attenuated systems for updating beliefs compared to mixed handers (Niebauer, Aselage, & Schutte, 2002). The current research extended this theory to individual differences in updating beliefs concerning our origins. Although the theory...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Laterality (Hove) 2004-10, Vol.9 (4), p.433-447
Main Authors: Lee Niebauer, Christopher, Christman, Stephen, Reid, Scott, Garvey, Kilian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Beliefs
Bible
Biological Evolution
Brain hemispheres
Cognition
Culture
Dominance, Cerebral
Evolutionary theories
Female
Functional Laterality
Handedness
Humans
Individuality
Interactions
Male
Religion and Psychology
Set (Psychology)
Statistics as Topic
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:It has been suggested that strongly handed individuals have attenuated systems for updating beliefs compared to mixed handers (Niebauer, Aselage, & Schutte, 2002). The current research extended this theory to individual differences in updating beliefs concerning our origins. Although the theory of evolution has gained overwhelming success in the sciences, a significant percentage of the population believes in biblical creationist accounts of human origins that are inconsistent with accepted, contemporary scientific views. If strongly handed individuals possess attenuated systems for updating beliefs, they might be more likely to believe in creationism. In two studies, strongly handed participants were more likely to believe in creationism while mixed-handed participants were more likely to believe in evolution. A model of how interhemispheric interaction functions in maintaining and updating beliefs is discussed. Specifically, mixed-handedness seems to be associated with a lower threshold for updating beliefs.
ISSN:1357-650X
1464-0678
DOI:10.1080/13576500342000266