Revisiting Cognitive Complexity of Religious Topics: Multiple Complexity, Religious Fundamentalism, and a Quest Orientation

摘要

Although previous research has consistently demonstrated a negative relationship between common measures of individual religiosity (e.g., religious fundamentalism, Christian Orthodoxy) and complexity of thought on religious issues, advances in the conceptualization of integrative complexity provides the opportunity to clarify the nature of this relationship. Across 2 studies, we apply the Multiple Complexity Model (MCM) of integrative complexity to investigate the cognitive complexity of religious issues. In Study 1, we predict and demonstrate that 2 common aspects of individual religiosity (religious fundamentalism and a Quest orientation) correlate with the dialectical and elaborative aspects of cognitive complexity. In Study 2, we demonstrate that priming a religious schema before considering a religiously related issue elicits lower dialectical complexity, but that this process is moderated by individual religiosity. The work demonstrates how these aspects of individual religiosity relate to cognitive complexity and speak to the nature of both religious fundamentalism and the Quest orientation. Furthermore, we provide validation of both the MCM and automated techniques for calculating integrative complexity scores.