Tyler Cowen is a conservative economist from James Madison University that is supported financially by the Koch family. He has reported on research which led him to the conclusion that belief in God is a function of cognitive style. The research is based on a psychological test that is purported to distinguish between individuals use of intuition or reflection to make cognitive decisions. Those who favor intuition over reflection have stronger beliefs in God. There is also the implication in how the study is reported that intuition is a more natural cognitive style, and perhaps favorable to the use of reflection.
The full study is not reported in this post, however, I am highly skeptical of the study and how it might be used. In the first place, the test that purports to measure cognitive style is not a commonly used test that has been examined for validity and reliability. We know nothing about the ability of the test to measure what it claims to measure. We also know nothing about how the results might differ if other kinds of problems were used instead of math problems. One of the comments on the post raised a good question. We know that evangelical Christians, who have a strong belief in God, presumably because of an intuitive cognitive style, are also strong disbelievers. They don't believe in evolution and they deny global warming. Is the implication that disbelief in evolution and global warming is also intuitive?
This post makes me even more skeptical of Tyler Cowen and the economics that flows from James Madison University. Cowen has also made favorable comments on the op-eds by Mankiw and Borro which blame the Obama administration's policies for the slow recovery in the US. Any organization supported by the Koch brothers would also affect the credibility of research produced by the organization.
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