Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-tnzcf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T08:37:48.754Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Believers and disbelievers in evolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

Allan Mazur
Allan Mazur*
Affiliation:
400 Eggers Hall, Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244 amazur@syr.edu
Get access

Abstract

Background.

Citizens of the United States are less likely than are citizens of Europe and several non-European nations to believe that humans evolved from an earlier species. Several theories have been proposed to explain Americans' disbelief in human evolution, but empirical investigation has been sparse.

Methods.

Data on belief in evolution, on scientific knowledge unrelated to evolution, on socioeconomic status, on Christian religiosity, and on political polarity were identified in the General Social Surveys (GSSs) for 1993, 1994, and 2000. These data were then analyzed in bivariate and multivariate tests of theories about evolutionary and anti-evolutionary views.

Findings.

Christian religiosity was the strongest correlate of disbelief in evolution. Low educational attainment was another positive, but weaker, correlate, though disbelief in evolution was not related to general measures of scientific knowledge. Political liberalism and political conservatism predicted evolutionary belief even after controlling for religiosity, education, and other potential confounders. Subcultural differences in belief — those between blacks and whites, rural dwellers and urban dwellers, Southerners and non-Southerners, dogmatists and non-dogmatists — became insignificant under appropriate controls.

Conclusion.

Christian religiosity, especially in a fundamentalist variety, was the primary correlate of disbelief in evolution. Lack of education was an important but lesser factor. Independent of religiosity and education, political conservatism predicted disbelief.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , September 2004, pp. 55 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1.Davis, J., Smith, T., and Marsden, P., General Social Surveys: 1972–2000: Cumulative Codebook (Chicago, NORC, 2001).Google Scholar
2.Nelkin, D., The Creation Controversy (Boston: Beacon Press, 1982).Google Scholar
3.Eve, R. and Harrold, F., The Creationist Movement in Modern America (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991).Google Scholar
4.Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics, Pennock, R., ed. (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001).Google Scholar
5.Newport, F., “Third of Americans Say Evidence Has Supported Darwin's Evolution Theory,” Gallup Poll News Service, November 19, 2004.Google Scholar
6.Eurobarometer 55.2, Europeans, Science and Technology (Brussels: European Commission, 2001).Google Scholar
7.Modules on Environment, I and II, ISSP archive, University of Cologne, Germany; http://www.issp.org/data.htm.Google Scholar
8.Evans, E., “Cognitive and Contextual Factors in the Emergence of Diverse Belief Systems: Creation versus Evolution.” Cognitive Psychology 2001, 42:217–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Poling, D. and Evans, E., “Religious Belief, Scientific Expertise, and Folk Ecology,” Journal of Cognition and Culture 2004, 4:485–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10.Gould, S., Rock of Ages (New York: Ballantine, 2002).Google Scholar
11.National Academy of Sciences, Science and Creation (Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1999).Google Scholar
12.Locke, S., Constructing “The Beginning” (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999).Google Scholar
13.Eldredge, N., The Triumph of Evolution and the Failure of Creationism (New York: W. H. Freeman, 2000).Google Scholar
14.Morgan, J., The Scopes Trial (New York: Bedford St. Martin's, 2002).Google Scholar
15.Strachler, A., Science and Earth History: The Evolution/Creation Controversy (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1999).Google Scholar
16.Alters, B. and Alters, S., Defending Evolution: A Guide to the Evolution/Creation Controversy (Boston: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2001).Google Scholar
17.Rockeach, M., The Open and Closed Mind (New York: Basic Books, 1960).Google Scholar
18.Jost, J., Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A., and Sullowell, F., “Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition,” Psychological Bulletin, May 2003, 129:376:82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Altemeyer, B., “Dogmatic Behavior among Students,” J. Social Psychology, December 2002,142:713–21.Google Scholar