In my previous post, we discussed how people with a strong desire to avoid ambiguity often engage in conspiracy thinking so that they can achieve “cognitive closure.” Then we showed how Mormon worship is structured to regularly provide cognitive closure, and, therefore, how it can exacerbate conspiracy thinking. Another aspect of conspiracy thinking that Mormonism can intensify is the “intuition” aspect of cognitive styles.

Broadly speaking, we all engage in two styles of evaluative cognition: intuitive thinking and analytic reasoning.¹ Intuitive thinking relies on tacit, experiential knowledge and implicit rules of thumb. In other words, thinking with the gut. Conversely, analytic reasoning relies on explicit, domain-general knowledge, and is methodically deliberate. In other words, thinking with the head. While everyone engages in both modes of thinking, research demonstrates that a tendency to favor intuition over analytic reasoning is associated with conspiracy thinking.²

When someone is thinking intuitively, they are paying attention to the feelings being evoked by the information they are encountering. They use those feelings to take mental shortcuts (i.e., heuristics) and make quick judgments about the value of the information. Hunches, gut-feelings, and spontaneous, unsolicited thoughts are examples of intuition. Intuition arises through subconscious processes, and can therefore feel like expressions of a deeper part of our being than our conscious self. Or they may feel wholly apart from our own mind—as if they originate from somewhere or someone outside ourselves. As a result, intuitive thoughts may have the “feeling of truth”—especially truth that is apart from, and perhaps even at odds with, our conscious processes.

Because intuition relies on cognitive shortcuts to make quick judgements, it is prone to making systematic errors, falling prey to a wide range of cognitive biases. Conversely, analytic reasoning is generally more accurate, but requires slow and deliberate effort. That said, do not conclude that intuitive thinking is fundamentally flawed, always leading to error, whereas analytic reasoning is inherently corrective and reliably accurate.³ Neither cognitive mode is perfect and free from error, nor do they function as wholly separate and independent systems. Nonetheless, a strong dispositional tendency toward intuitive cognition is strongly correlated with belief in conspiracy theories.

So, when you and I encounter situations where our intuitive and analytic thoughts are at odds, to which do we find ourselves giving priority? The values of the communities we participate in will have a large impact on that decision. Various communities differ about the priority one should give to these two cognitive modes and how the information they provide should be interpreted. For instance, scientific communities place a high value on skepticism and generally prioritize analytic thinking over intuition. Communities devoted to conspiracy theories generally place a higher priority on intuitive thinking and direct analytic reasoning toward defending those intuitions.

From my observations, intuitive thinking is highly prioritized in Mormon communities. The Book of Mormon asserts that “the truth of all things” can be known through the power of the Holy Ghost—who, as we are taught, communicates via emotions, sudden and unexpected thoughts, a sense of instinctive coherence, clarity of mind, and sometimes as “a still, small voice,” which are all descriptions of intuitive thinking.

During the production of the Book of Mormon manuscript, Oliver Cowdery wished to take a turn at translating the gold plates, and, in Sections 8 and 9 of the LDS Doctrine and Covenants, received a short discourse on intuitive thinking:

2 Yea, behold, I will tell you in your mind and in your heart, by the Holy Ghost, which shall come upon you and which shall dwell in your heart.

[…]

8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

9 But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong;

Doctrine and Covenants § 8:2, and § 9:8–9, emphasis my own.

Notice how manifestations of the Holy Ghost are described in ways that are highly characteristic of intuitive thinking. Clarity of thought is accompanied by emotional affirmation as signs of divine confirmation, contrasted with confusion or clouded thinking as indications of divine disconfirmation.

It’s interesting to see how this revelation approaches analytic thinking. Oliver is instructed to “study it out in your mind” to prepare himself to receive subsequent, confirmatory revelation. Similarly, Moroni instructs readers of the Book of Mormon to ponder in their hearts the things they have read before asking for confirmatory revelation via prayer. According to these two passages, analytic thinking serves a specific purpose—to prepare the individual to ask about the truth of something specific. Then the asker must confer with their intuitions for confirmation. Thereafter, analytic thinking is employed to interpret those intuitions as manifestations of the Holy Ghost, one’s own thoughts, or perhaps the deceptions of Satan.⁴ In other words, in Mormonism, analytic thinking plays a supporting role to intuition, which has the ultimate connection to truth.

In future posts, we will further examine the ways that reliance on intuition and mental shortcuts makes us more prone to cognitive biases associated with conspiracism, and how these are expressed in Mormon culture.

Footnotes:

1. For a digestible review, see Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
2. Swami V, Voracek M, Steiger S, Tran US, & Furnham A. (2014). Analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories. Cognition, 133, 572–585. Gligorić V, Većkalov B, & Žeželj I. (2018). Intuitive and analytical cognitive styles as determinants of belief in conspiracy theories. In K. Damnjanović, I. Stepanović Ilić, & S. Marković (Eds.), Proceedings of the XXIV conference empirical studies in psychology(pp. 93–95).
3. https://www.marketingsociety.com/think-piece/system-1-and-system-2-thinking
4. Whitmer, D. (1887). An Address to All Believers in Christ, Part Second, Chapter IV, pp. 30–31. https://archive.org/details/addresstoallbeli00whit/page/30/mode/2up