Los Angeles Times: Thinking can undermine religious faith, study finds

[AdHocSolver]

31. Did your gut reaction or conscious reasoning lead you to misunderstand what I said?

The point of my post was that it is false to conclude that "conscious" reasoning is "superior" to gut reaction.

If the "conscious reasoning" starts from false premises, then the conclusion will be wrong.

It may be that a "gut reaction" processes the information "subconsciously" the same exact way, but starts from "correct" premises.

Gut reaction thinking can come from previous studies or experience that was retained subconsciously.

If the other two of the three questions were as simplistic as the one cited in the article, then the entire study is meaningless.

(snip)
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To find out, his research team had college students perform three thinking tasks, each with an intuitive (incorrect) answer and an analytic (correct) answer.

For example, students were asked this question: "A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?" The intuitive answer — 10 cents — would be wrong. A little math on the fly reveals that the correct answer would be 5 cents.

After answering three of these questions, the students were asked to rate a series of statements on belief, including, "In my life I feel the presence of the Divine," and "I just don't understand religion." Students who answered the three questions correctly — and presumably did a better job of engaging their analytical skills — were more likely to score lower on the belief scales.
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I started to calculate what the "correct" answer would be, but then "intuitively" came up with the correct response because I remembered seeing this question several times before in books and articles about puzzles.

It isn't merely the L.A. Times article that is oversimplified. The entire study is oversimplified.

Having worked behind the scenes in academia, I am not immediately impressed with "scientific research".

My opinions about a lot of "scientific" research were formed both from analytical observation AND gut instinct.