Darwinian Discomfort: Terror Management Implications for Belief in Science Meleah B. Marquis & Ronald W. Wright, Ph.D. Southern Nazarene University Introduction Results Discussion Terror Management Theory (TMT) suggests that Religiosity Moderates Quest and Belief in Science Conclusion discomfort is associated with reminders of animality and SF and GF religious orientations interact the body (Goldenberg, Morris, & Boyd, 2019; Vail, ● Soenke, & Waggoner, 2019), creating a dynamic in which differently with potential worldview religious worldviews assist in ameliorating. Research also threats suggests that across both religious and non-religious DTS QS ●General belief in science is perceived as a persons, there remains an uncertainty about the ability of worldview threat for SF Christians evolutionary science to explain the origins of humanity DTS 1 and human consciousness (Elsdon-Baker, Leicht, Mason- ●Darwinian Evolutionary Theory and animal Wilkes, Preece, & Piggott, 2017). QS -.504** 1 similarity are also perceived as a worldview Religious Orientations (Van Tongeren, Hook, Davis, & BSS -.366** .301** threat for SF Christians Johnson, 2016) ●GF Christians do not feel as threatened by Security-Focused (SF) science Existential consolation that is focused on certainty and Implications optimism. Pro: High psychological well-being; Con: Increased intolerance and hostility toward outgroups or Study 1 ●Are there correlates of SF and GF rival worldviews. functioning across all worldviews? Growth-Focused (GF) Future Directions Correlation of Linguistic Inquiry Word Count Categories and Main Variables Faith with existential questions about evil and pain. Pro: Examine differences between SF and GF Increased tolerance and openness toward outgroups or ● rival worldviews; Con: Decreased psychological well- DTS QS BSS Christians with a mortality salience prime being. Emotional Tone -.257** .162* .129 to assess for bolstering of worldview in a Hypotheses: mortality threat Study 1 Six Letter -.160* .115 .173* ●DTS and BSS will be negatively correlated ●QS and BSS will be positively correlated Comparisons .155* -.088 -.057 ●Higher DTS scores will be related to more negative emotional words with Darwin’s Evolutionary Theory Positive Emotion -.224** .139 .191** Study 2 Literature Cited ●Animal similarity essay will be graded lower than the Negative Emotion .204** -.156* -.181* Batson, C. D., & Schoenrade, P. A. (1991). Measuring religion as quest: 1) human uniqueness essay. validity concerns. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 30(4), 416- ●High Quest will display no differences for grades Cognitive Processes -.197** .075 .166* 429. across conditions. Beck, R. (2006). Defensive versus existential religion: Is religious Certainty -.332** .081 .275** defensiveness predictive of worldview defense? Journal of Psychology & Theology, 34(2), 143-153. Elsdon-Baker, F., Leicht, C., Mason-Wilkes, W., Preece, E., & Piggott, L. Body -.190** .108 -.018 (2017). Summary report of preliminary findings for a survey of public perspectives on evolution and the relationship between evolutionary Risk .178* -.113 -.139 science and religion. Available at: https://sciencereligionspectrum.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/09/SRESYouGov-survey-preliminary-findings- Method 5.9.17.pdf. Farias, M., Newheiser, A.-K., Kahane, G., & De Toledo, Z. (2013). Scientific Study 1 Tests of Between-Subjects faith: Belief in science increases in the face of stress and existential Participants (N =186) Effects anxiety. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 1210–1213. ANOVA for Grade by Essay Condition Study 2 Goldenberg, J.L. (2012). A body of terror: Denial of death and the creaturely M = 28.06 years; 67% female; 92% Caucasian; 74% Dependent Variable: What body. In P.R. Shaver & M. Mikulincer (Eds), Meaning, mortality, and attend religious services at least once per week grade would you give the choice: The social psychology of existential concerns (pp. 93-110). author? Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Measures: Goldenberg, J. L., Morris, K. L., & Boyd, P. (2019). Terror management is for Quest Scale (QS; Batson & Schoenrade, 1991) Source Type III df Mean F Sig. Partial the birds and the bees: An existential perspective on the threat Sum of Square Eta associated with human corporeality. In C. Routledge & M. Vess (Eds.), Defensive Theology Scale (DTS; Beck, 2006) Handbook of terror management theory (p. 227–242). Elsevier Belief in Science Scale (BSS) Squares Squared Academic Press. Goldenberg, J. L., Pyszczynski, T., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., Kluck, B., & First seven words that come to mind when thinking Condition 34.406 1 34.406 6.34 .014 .069 Cornwell, R. (2001). I am not an animal: Mortality salience, disgust, and about Darwinian Evolutionary Theory 4 the denial of human creatureliness. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Study 2 General, 130, 427-435. Within Groups 460.973 85 5.423 Jong, J., & Halberstadt, J. (2016). Death anxiety and religious belief: an Participants (N =87) existential psychology of religion. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. Total 495.379 86 M = 28.28 years; 64% female; 75% Caucasian; 77% Van Tongeren, D. R., Davis, D. E., Hook, J. N., & Johnson, K. A. (2016). Security a. R Squared = .069 versus growth: Existential tradeoffs of various religious perspectives. attend religious services at least once per week Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 8(1), 77–88. Procedures (Adjusted R Squared = .059) Participants were randomly assigned to read either an essay on animal and human similarities or human Acknowledgments uniqueness. After reading, both groups were asked Funded by a grant given by Building the Two Cultures of to give a letter grade for the author. All participants Science and the Humanities II, a project run by immediately completed the Existential Death Anxiety Scholarship and Christianity in Oxford, the UK subsidiary Scale (Jong & Halberstadt, 2016), the Defensive of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, with Theology Scale, and the Quest Scale. funding by Templeton Religion Trust and The Blankemeyer Foundation..