Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Scientific norms value skepticism; many religious traditionsvalue faith. We test the hypothesis that these differentattitudes towards inquiry and belief result in differentinferences from epistemic behavior: Whereas the pursuit ofevidence or explanations is taken as a signal of commitmentto science, forgoing further evidence and explanation is takenas a signal of commitment to religion. Two studies (N = 401)support these predictions. We also find that deciding topursue inquiry is judged more moral and trustworthy, withmoderating effects of participant religiosity and scientism.These findings suggest that epistemic behavior can be a socialsignal and shed light on the epistemic and social functions ofscientific vs. religious belief.