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Principal Investigator: Michael Barlev, Arizona State University, USA

Scientific and religious meaning-making frameworks are built around counter-intuitive premises. As such, they are inherently unbelievable. When the science and religion are mutually incompatible, whichever triumphs therefore depends on which, if either, is more successful at motivating belief. I propose that nonordinary experiences pave the road toward belief in inherently unbelievable premises. As such, they complement social learning heuristics in explaining the puzzle of religious (and scientific) belief. I propose to collect empirical data on the relationship between nonordinary experiences and belief in religious and scientific meaning-making frameworks.

Studies 1A-B are modeled after the Alister Hardy question and focus on collecting open-ended data on salient nonordinary experiences, and on meaning-making frameworks at the center of which are such experiences. Study 2 is designed to be more comprehensive and focuses on collecting data on nonordinary experiences using a newly constructed and validated instruments. Studies 1A-B and 2 will recruit samples from the US and India, including a sample of devout believers in science. Study 2 will also include a sample from an Amazonian forager population (the Achuar) that has minimal scientific education and where an indigenous religious framework is widespread. Studies 3A-B will test the proposed model experimentally in a developmental sample, using scientific premises as case studies, and will explore the interplay of personal experience and testimony in the acceptance and understanding of these premises. Overall, the studies outlined here will be a step toward understanding the relationship between nonordinary experiences and religious and scientific belief.