Understanding theories of evolution does not necessarily lead to believing them, according to an international study released Thursday by Ohio State University.
Nor do religious upbringing and beliefs necessarily have much to do with acceptance of evolution, the study said.
“We’re assuming that people accept something or don’t accept it on a completely rational basis," said David Haury, co-author of the new study and associate professor of education at Ohio State University. "Or, they’re part of a belief community that as a group accept or don’t accept. But the findings just made those simple answers untenable.”
"It may not be accurate to portray religion and science education as competing factors in determining beliefs about evolution," he said. "For the subjects of this study, belonging to a religion had almost no additional impact on beliefs about evolution, beyond subjects’ feelings of certainty."
In addition to students in the United States, the research was conducted in Korea where, they say, people are less likely to reject evolution on religious grounds.
“We found that the both groups were comparable in terms of the overall performance,” Haury said.
The results, Ohio State said, show that even students with greater knowledge of evolutionary facts weren’t likelier to accept the theory, unless they also had a strong “gut” feeling about those facts.
Feelings and knowledge conflict, the study suggests.
"For teaching evolution, the researchers suggest using exercises that allow students to become aware of their brains’ dual processing. Knowing that sometimes what their 'gut' says is in conflict with what their 'head' knows may help students judge ideas on their merits," according to Ohio State.
For the complete news release about the findings, visit Ohio State University's research news site.
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