Deus or Darwin: Randomness and belief in theories about the origin of life

• Published in: Journal of experimental social psychology Vol. 46; no. 6; pp. 1078 - 1080
• Main Authors: Rutjens, Bastiaan T., van der Pligt, Joop, van Harreveld, Frenk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.11.2010; Elsevier; Academic Press
• Subjects: Behavior. Attitude; Belief & doubt; Beliefs; Biological and medical sciences; Compensatory control; Control motivation; Darwin, Charles; Evolution; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gods; Life Sciences; Motivation; Neurons and Cognition; Order; Psychology and behavior; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Religion; Science; Social psychology; Theory; Worldviews; Order; Religion; Science; Worldviews; Control motivation; Compensatory control; Belief; Human; Theory; Evolution; Worldview; Terror management theory; science; worldviews; compensatory control; religion; order
• ISSN: 0022-1031; 1096-0465
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.07.009

A simple reminder of the fact that we do not always control life's outcomes reduced people's belief in Darwin's Theory of Evolution. This control-threat resulted in a relative preference for theories of life that thwart randomness, either by stressing the role of a controlling God (Intelligent Design) or by presenting the Theory of Evolution in terms of predictable and orderly processes. Moreover, increased preference for Intelligent Design over evolutionary theory disappeared when the latter was framed in terms of an orderly process with inevitable outcomes. Thus, psychological threat enhances belief in God, but only in the absence of other options that help to create order in the world.