Just before starting university education, 339 Ss had small, but significant negative correlations between intelligence and both traditional and avant garde supernatural beliefs. A year later, an independent sample of 241 Ss maintained the significant negative correlation with traditional beliefs but had a non-significant correlation with avant garde beliefs. Religious background was the most significant predictor of beliefs, indicating that socialization had more effect than intelligence and university education in determining beliefs of these Ss.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
DittesJ. E.Psychology of religion. In LindzeyG.AronsonE. (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1969. Pp. 602–659.
2.
FactorR. M.MeyerR.Supernatural beliefs of graduate students. Nature, 1971, 234, 362.
3.
FremerJ.CoffmanW. E.TaylorP. H.The College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test as a predictor of academic achievement in secondary schools in England. Journal of Educational Measurement, 1968, 5, 235–241.
4.
KarlinsM.CoffmanT. L.WaltersG.On the fading of social stereotypes: Studies in three generations of college students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1969, 13, 1–16.
5.
KosaJ.SchommerC. O.Religious participation, religious knowledge, and scholastic aptitude: An empirical study. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1961, 1, 88–97.
6.
LabovitzS.The assignment of numbers to rank order categories. American Sociological Review, 1970, 35, 515–524.
7.
SalterC. A.RoutledgeL. M.Supernatural beliefs among graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania. Nature, 1971, 232, 278–279.
