Superstitious Beliefs Cemented Before Birth | Hacker News Reader

Superstitious Beliefs Cemented Before Birth

dsc.discovery.com

3 pointsAlex39177 comments

If this is original research and not just confirming an earlier result, then this is probably one of the most important studies ever done. I'm sure kids will be reading about this in their textbooks someday.

(Although I'm 95% certain that the causal mechanism proposed by the article is wrong, i.e. the idea that intuition and analytical thinking are opposed doesn't make sense either on its own or as an explanation.)

I think the article is merely suggesting that a previous study (Lindeman, Aarnio) proposed such a mechanism.

At the very end, I infered the proposition that the intuitive-thinking trait[1] is correlated with superstition because the two share the same cause.

[1] The phrase "higher intuitiveness and lower analytical thinking" has a rather glaringly ambiguous "and" usage. It could be replaced by "or," "in addition to," or "and therefore." The last, which is the only interpretation requiring opposition of thinking styles, strikes me as the least likely.

"the intuitive-thinking trait[1] is correlated with superstition because the two share the same cause."

Why is that?

Just a crazy idea, but did they try to find out if sudden change of perspective in those who experience the paranormal (like near death experience) CAUSES the digit ratio to change?

What is meant by intuitive thinking?

I don't think the author talks about intuitive thinking in positive vein. Whatever is not analytical is named intuitive. However, the real definition of intuitive is probably that kind of thinking that comes out of subconsciously learned patterns and not from proactive conscious thought - often cited in the usual example of Friedrich August Kekulé discovering the benzene structure from a dream of a snake biting its own tale.

I think the premise is flawed, intuitive analytic is not a contradiction in terms.

I'd be more prone to ascribe said beliefs to dominance of emotion over thought. The way they use the language seems to imply they're trying to scale for the Intuitive vs Sensate side of the personality scale rather than the Thinking vs Feeling side.

I'd find it a lot harder to believe intuition vs sensory information gathering led to higher superstitious belief, and a lot easier to believe that emotional rather than logical evaluation methods are focused in this direction.

Interesting point nonetheless.

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