NancyLebovitz comments on A few questions on International Rationality - Less Wrong

15 Post author: Locke 30 April 2012 10:27PM

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Comment author: Jesper_Ostman 02 May 2012 12:15:46PM 1 point [-]

"Weirdness" is closely related to a high score in the psychological trait openness in the big5.

According to this meta-analysis the correlations between religiosity and openness are somewhat mixed:

"while Openness is negatively related to religious fundamentalism (weighted mean r=−0.14, P<0.01) and, to some extent, intrinsic-general religiosity (r=−0.06, P<0.01), it is positively related to measures of open or mature religiosity and spirituality (r=0.22, P<0.0001)."

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 02 May 2012 03:43:18PM 1 point [-]

"Weirdness" is in the mind of the beholder.

Also, I bet they didn't check the openness level of people who start or join new religions-- such people are pretty rare, but they're the ones who keep the religious landscape lively.

Comment author: Jesper_Ostman 02 May 2012 05:23:59PM 1 point [-]

I was assuming you meant something like "willing to go against the dominant norms in one's society" by it, which is close related to Openness.

I'd expect those people joining/starting new religions to be more open, thus the operalization of your hypothesis in terms of big5-Openness. There should probably be studies on smaller religions, such as new age, which might aptly be called new.