OBJECTIVE The psychological processes of doubting and skepticism have recently become topics of neuroscientific investigation. In this context, we developed the False Tagging Theory, a neurobiological model of the belief and doubt process, which proposes that the prefrontal cortex is critical for normative doubt regarding properly comprehended cognitive representations. Here, we put our theory ...

This study explored how religious fundamentalism related to irrational beliefs and primitive defense mechanisms. We also explored how the personality factors of openness to experience and neuroticism moderated these relations. Participants (N = 120) were recruited in an urban area from a Northeastern university, a psychotherapy center, and through Internet advertising. The results demonstrated ...

According to the Religious Openness Hypothesis, the religious and psychological openness of American Christians is obscured by a defensive ghettoization of thought associated with a Religious Fundamentalist Ideological Surround and can be discovered instead within a Biblical Foundationalist Ideological Surround. A test of this claim examined Religious Fundamentalism, Biblical Foundationalism, Q...

Previous literature on religion and sexual behavior has focused on narrow definitions of religiosity, including religious affiliation, religious participation, or forms of religiousness (e.g., intrinsic religiosity). Trends toward more permissive premarital sexual activity in the North American Christian-Judeo religion support the secularization hypothesis of religion, which posits an increasin...

College students in a South-Korean University responded to measures of Christian fundamentalism and sociopolitical perspectives related to nationalism, internationalism, patriotism, respect for civil liberties, and tolerance of dissent. Religious diversity in the sample permitted subgroup comparisons between Protestants, Catholics, Buddhists, and Atheists on all measures. These subgroups differ...

The present study investigated the relationship between cognitive development and political and religious ideology, and whether there are gender differences in formal thinking which may be related to right-wing authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism. The conceptual and empirical literature suggests that many aspects of cognition which play a role in the formation of conservative politica...

Fundamentalism has been widely reckoned as one among many other watchful social phenomena currently. There are two general approaches to it. The first is from those who perceive fundamentalism a movement of militant piety found almost in any religion, and therefore cannot necessarily be identified with violent movement. second categorize political an objective worldly power, it susceptible turn...

Examining the relationship between brain activity and religious fundamentalism, this study explores whether fundamentalist religious beliefs increase responses to errorrelated words among participants intolerant to uncertainty (i.e., high in the need for closure) in comparison to those who have a high degree of toleration for uncertainty (i.e., those who are low in the need for closure). We exa...

Our theoretical assumption is that behind the dogmatism-religion positive but not systematic relation, a clearer one may exist between religion and need for closure (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994). A positive association of religiosity with need for closure was hypothesized (except with the decisiveness facet). Subjects (n = 239) were administered the Need for Closure Scale (NFCS), the Religious F...