Nature Helps Create Religious Adults
Science Daily
Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
A study published in the current issue of Journal of
Personality studied adult male monozygotic (MZ) and
dizygotic (DZ) twins to find that difference in
religiousness are influenced by both genes and
environment. But during the transition from adolescence
to adulthood, genetic factors increase in importance
while shared environmental factors decrease.
Environmental factors (i.e. parenting and family life)
influence a child's religiousness, but their effects
decline with the transition into adulthood. An analysis
of self-reported religiousness showed that MZ twins
maintained their religious similarity over time, while
the DZ twins became more dissimilar. "These correlations
suggest low genetic and high environmental influences
when the twins were young but a larger genetic influence
as the twins age" the authors state.
Participants for this study were 169 MZ and 104 DZ male
twin pairs from Minnesota. Religiousness was tested using
self-report of nine items that measured the centrality of
religion in their lives. The twins graded the frequency
in which they partook in religious activities such as
reading scripture or other religious material and the
importance of religious faith in daily life. They also
reported on their mother's, their father's, and their own
religiousness when they were growing up. They were also
asked to report on the current and past religiousness of
their brother. The factors were divided into subscales--
external aspects of religion, like observing religious
holidays, that might be the most susceptible to
environmental influence and internal aspects, like
seeking help through prayer, that might be the most
susceptible to heritable influence. The external items
were found to be more environmentally and less
genetically influenced during childhood, but more
genetically influenced in adulthood. The internal scale
showed a similar pattern, but the genetic influences
seemed to be slightly larger in childhood compared to the
external scale and so more consistent across the two
ages. "Like other personality traits, adult religiousness
is heritable, and though changes in religiousness occur
during development, it is fairly stable," the authors
conclude.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050326163631.htm
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Well there you have it. We're religious because of
genetics. So I guess that means that the left can't
criticize us for being religious anymore, can it?
After all, we're told that we can't criticize the
homosexual lifestyle because it's genetic. It's just the
way we are. It's not politically correct to criticize
people for something they can't do anything about.
Posted on 4/05/2005 4:26:15 PM PDT by Brilliant
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-To: PatrickHenry
This is going to be fun!
Posted on 4/05/2005 4:29:00 PM PDT by tiamat
(Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the
restraints.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-To: Brilliant
What passes for science these days.....
Posted on 4/05/2005 4:29:11 PM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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-To: Brilliant
"These correlations suggest low genetic and high
environmental influences when the twins were young but
a larger genetic influence as the twins age" the
authors state.
This is true for nearly all psychological
characteristics.
Psted on 4/05/2005 4:29:40 PM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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-To: Brilliant
HELLOOOO... Any ten tribe people out there?
Posted on 4/05/2005 4:33:36 PM PDT by ladyL
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-To: Brilliant
Oh the irony, religiosity is an evolutionary beneficial
trait.
Posted on 4/05/2005 4:37:02 PM PDT by dmcnash
(trolling the primordial soup.)
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-To: dmcnash
Oh the irony, religiosity is an evolutionary beneficial
trait.
I'm going to have to save this article for the next crevo
thread. ;-)
Posted on 4/05/2005 4:42:00 PM PDT by wyattearp
(The best weapon to have in a gunfight is a shotgun -
preferably from ambush.)
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-To: dmcnash
Oh the irony, religiosity is an evolutionary beneficial
trait.
Duh! I believe a number of evolutionary theorists have
made this prediction. This should give them more
credibility, as one of the keys to good science is the
ability to make a prediction that we do not yet have data
for, and then having it confirmed.
Posted on 4/05/2005 4:54:33 PM PDT by marktwain
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End of forwarded messages
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
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