not believing in evolution is linked to racism, bigotry
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in the studies from the u.s., belief in evolution meant less discrimination against black people, immigrants, and lgbtq people. getty
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people who don’t believe in evolution are more likely to exhibit racism and bigotry, according to a new study.
the research disproves a common misconception that charles darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest” which is used to describe natural selection — the process by which those adapted to their environment are most successful in surviving and reproducing — encourages racism and prejudice.
“there have been theoretical accounts that predict the opposite of what we found, so it was exciting for us to show that this actually is not the case, that the opposite is true and that belief in evolution seems to have pretty positive effects,” leidner says.
belief in evolution has positive effects
“there have been theoretical accounts that predict the opposite of what we found, so it was exciting for us to show that this actually is not the case, that the opposite is true and that belief in evolution seems to have pretty positive effects,” dr. bernhard leidner, one of the study’s co-authors, told the university of massachusetts amherst’s news outlet.
the study, published in the journal of personality and social psychology, used nationally representative data from 45 countries, across numerous communities and at various points in time. looking at people in the u.s., israel, eastern europe and the middle east, researchers examined first their attitudes towards human evolution and then their views on social issues and groups other than their own. the findings showed that a “low belief in human evolution was associated with higher levels of prejudice, racist attitudes, and support for discriminatory behaviours.”
before starting the analysis, the researchers had theorized that people who believed that all humans share a common ancestor would be more likely to empathize with people different from them, causing less discrimination.
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“people who perceive themselves as more similar to animals are also people who tend to have more pro-social or positive attitudes toward outgroup members or people from stigmatized and marginalized backgrounds,” said dr. stylianos syropoulos, the study’s other co-author. “in this investigation, we were interested in examining whether belief in evolution would also act in a similar way, because it would reinforce this belief that we are more similar to animals.”
different regions hold different discriminatory beliefs
prejudice looked a little different in each region, but overall, the responses were the same: people who didn’t believe evolution had happened were more likely to discriminate against minority groups. this was the case regardless of education level, political ideology, religious belief, cultural identity and scientific knowledge, the study found.
“the disbelief in human evolution is the driving factor and most consistent predictor of prejudice in comparison to other relevant constructs,” the study says.
in the studies from the u.s., belief in evolution meant less discrimination against black people, immigrants, and lgbtq people. in the eastern european countries, it meant less prejudiced attitudes towards jews, muslims and roma people. in israel, people who believed in evolution were more likely to support a peaceful resolution in palestine; the pro-evolution people in muslim-majority countries were less likely to be intolerant towards jews and christians.
“we found the same results each time, which is basically that believing in evolution relates to less prejudice, regardless of the group you’re in, and controlling for all of these alternative explanations,” syropoulos said.
researchers hope educators will take heed of their work.
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“teaching evolution seems to have side effects that might make for a better or more harmonious society,” leidner said.
maija kappler is a reporter and editor at healthing. you can reach her at mkappler@postmedia.com
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