{"id":253479,"date":"2023-04-18T12:10:56","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T10:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=253479"},"modified":"2023-04-18T12:11:06","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T10:11:06","slug":"do-people-use-their-brains-differently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=253479","title":{"rendered":"Do People Use Their Brains Differently?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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STOCK IMAGE Female brain, woman’s brain, brain anatomy, brain diagram, brain waves, human brain.\r\r\r\r Uploaded by: Collins, Anthony<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Climate Scepticism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0ALAN KENDALL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last week I came across a paper upon atheism<\/a>, that I thought was not particularly well written; nevertheless it stimulated my interest. I speculate that it might be of interest to you, for reasons I briefly outline below.

The article was titled \u201cAre the brains of atheists different to those of religious people?<\/em>\u201d It was published on January 18th<\/sup> 2021 in The Conversation and was written by Miguel Fantas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The examination was based upon the supposition that atheists think in different ways to other people who have beliefs, and consequently there may be something different about how atheists brains work. This has been addressed in three ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first was based on observations that religious feelings were enhanced when people\u2019s frontal lobes were subjected to magnetic fields. When a renowned atheist, Richard Dawkins, was deliberately tested there was no effect. Unfortunately this experiment was not extended to involve other atheists, nor is it exactly clear that Dawkins\u2019 lack of response can be interpreted as it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later studies tested the view that nonbelievers are more likely to process sensory inspiration in a more deliberate manner that involves higher cortical areas. Religious believers, it is said, are more likely to interpret information in an emotive or intuitive manner that involves more ancient brain areas. Individuals were examined after contemplating Rodin\u2019s statue of The Thinker or without doing this. I\u2019ll leave those interested to investigate if the methodology employed was appropriate but I wasn\u2019t impressed, nor were others. Cultural bias and insufficient numbers of people examined were heavily criticised and the propositions were re-examined. Only studies in Australia, USA and Singapore supported the proposition that atheists\u2019 brains differed. It is also proposed that atheists can exhibit cognitive inhibition \u2013 an ability to refrain from certain thoughts and behaviours. This was assessed by measuring resistance to pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why am I boring you with these studies? Well, from the outset it struck me that one could substitute \u201cclimate change sceptic\u201d for \u201catheist \u201c. I think we may indeed think differently from those that believe humans are significantly changing the global climate. Why is it that we precious few \u2013 we band of climate change sceptical brothers \u2013 have our beliefs despite almost overwhelming pressure for us to conform to the majority view? I would appreciate learning your views on this proposition. I find it difficult to believe that all those studying climate change have inferior reasoning skills, yet this could be a possibility. So, what do you think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So why am I boring you with these studies? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":253482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818640,691818056,691818641],"class_list":{"0":"post-253479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-brain","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-studies","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/00human-brain.jpg?fit=1200%2C902&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-13Wn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":232267,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=232267","url_meta":{"origin":253479,"position":0},"title":"\u2018Train Your Brain\u2019 on Climate Change? 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