# Women more likely than men to believe in the spiritual and supernatural - why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 13, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774 "2003-08-13T00:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/1 "2003-08-13T00:22:31Z")
[http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris\_poll/index.asp?PID=359](http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=359) (Although it is an “internet poll” by method, it looks fairly accurate and reliable. They adjust for the fact that some people have a greater propensity to be online, and they _chose_ a cross-section of adults to poll. Having made the adjustment for online-propensity, I see no reason why it would be any less reliable than a phone poll, it was simply conducted through a different technology. That out of the way…) They took eleven supernatural/spiritual beliefs, and asked very simply for each one, “Do you believe in \_\_\_\_\_\_?” The beliefs asked about include some traditional Christian beliefs, some general religious beliefs, and a few “new age” sort of beliefs. Here’s the whole list: God, survival of the soul after death, miracles, heaven, the resurrection of Christ, the Virgin birth, hell, the devil, ghosts, astrology, reincarnation. Women had a higher rate of belief for _every category_ by at least 7%. The highest female vs. male gaps are on the belief in ghosts (58 to 43), heaven (89 to 75), and miracles (90 to 77). Why do you suppose this might be? At first I thought it may be connected to education level. All of those beliefs seem to drop off (some by quite a bit, some by only a little) as education level increases. The gap in higher education between men and women has all but disappeared, but it might still be indicated by lower education levels in the older female population. Yet blacks show no such consistent preference for spiritual/supernatural beliefs, and their access to higher education was limited far more severely than that of women, and unlike women, blacks continue today to attend higher education in fewer numbers (proportionally) than whites do. So if education level was the underlying reason, we would expect all historically disadvantaged groups to show the same tendency, which is not evidenced here. I am therefore tempted to conclude that women are simply more likely than men to hold beliefs in religious, spiritual, and supernatural subjects. If this is so, the obvious question is: why? * * * Other fun facts from the poll… Republicans more likely than Democrats to hold traditional religious beliefs (with a wide discrepancy on the nastier aspects of religion, such as hell.) Democrats more likely than Republicans to believe in ghosts, astrology, and reincarnation. A shocking 4% of self-identified Christians do not believe in the resurrection of Christ, and 1% do not believe in god! Only 1% of those who said they believe in the survival of the soul after death thought their soul was heading to hell. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/2 "2003-08-13T00:30:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RexDart \* > **Here’s the whole list: God, survival of the soul after death, miracles, heaven, the resurrection of Christ, the Virgin birth, hell, the devil, ghosts, astrology, reincarnation.** They should have added homeopathy to that list. (Which, incidentally, also seems to be more popular with women than with men, from what I can tell.) ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/3 "2003-08-13T01:00:05Z")
Women have traditionally had less of an affinity for logic and rationality than men. While most of that belief was merely prejudice, its effects may have lingered. I suspect that, just as women are more likely to view mathematics as something they’re simply “not good at” (despite women showing an increasing presence in mathematics), they may consider rational thinking to be unwomanlike. I really have no idea. It’s an excellent question. ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/4 "2003-08-13T01:08:03Z")
I’ll add my .02, that’s about all it’s worth. Women (I am generalizing) seem to be intuitive. Whether about their husbands, boyfrieds, children whatever. I personally had an outstanding recond of predicting the appearance of the highway patrol, always in time for the driver to slow down, and once I was able to alert a driver that a deer was going to jump from the woods into the road ahead, before anyone saw anything. My SO always asks for my gut feelings before hiring any employee, and my character judgement has been correct 10/10. This, I believe, is the reason more women than men believe in the “supernatural”. There have been too many incidences where intuition proved right. Therefore it is not a vast leap of faith to believe in otherworldly things. ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/5 "2003-08-13T01:11:24Z")
For any observable difference between the sexes, [Carol Gilligan](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0674445449/qid=1060737270/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-7454349-6439223?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) probably has a theory to explain it. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/6 "2003-08-13T01:14:06Z")
I think it probably has something to do with the way women are socialized. Girls are usually taught early in childhood that it is impolite to question or criticize others’ beliefs, while boys can argue openly without any negative reaction from their peers or parents. The consequences extend to other areas as well: I have a hard time getting my female students to make any comments on their peers’ papers that might be perceived as criticism, even when doing so would clearly benefit the author of the paper. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/7 "2003-08-13T01:15:34Z")
No doubt you men will want a detailed response with facts and cites and a logical argument. Something about our historical role as social nesters versus hunters, or perhaps our tendency to be right-brain dominant. The biochemistry of motherhood could be discussed, along with implications of being hard-wired to handle pregnancy. Or simply the acts of mothering, the use of myths and legends required to nurture children. Perhaps our traditional role as healers could come into play - consider the placebo effect. But I’ll give you the quick response. Women are more intuitive and spiritual and belief-oriented because we’re just plain smarter ;). ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/8 "2003-08-13T01:23:11Z")
Urge to smite… rising… rising… ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/9 "2003-08-13T01:31:15Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by fessie_ > Women are more intuitive and spiritual and belief-oriented because we’re just plain smarter. Since this is GD, somebody’s going to come along and ask for a cite. To save them the trouble, I found a metastudy [here](http://www.polymath-systems.com/intel/essayrev/sexdiff.html) that speaks both for your claim and its negation, inasmuch as it distinguishes among several types of intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/10 "2003-08-13T01:38:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TVAA \* > \*\*Urge to smite… rising… rising… \*\* Shoot, here’s your evidence right here - who’s gonna respond to an annoying post by popping themselves upside the head? Not a woman, I’ll tell you that! 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/11 "2003-08-13T01:39:14Z")
Thank you, **amore ac studio**. That was fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/12 "2003-08-13T01:43:37Z")
Well, at least we know now that **fessie** isn’t female… ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/13 "2003-08-13T10:24:16Z")
Sorry in advance for the continued hijack, Rex, but it’s really a response to your phrase > [@](#): > > At first I thought it may be connected to education level. All of those beliefs seem to drop off (some by quite a bit, some by only a little) as education level increases. The gap in higher education between men and women has all but disappeared, but it might still be indicated by lower education levels in the older female population. which strikes me as hilarious. By the nature of your question you’ve already decided that spiritual and supernatural (and I’ll add intuitive, since that’s been thrown into the mix already) knowledge is always inherently inferior to logic. Pffft! There’s a subtext I see frequently at SDMB that assumes once we’ve got everything figured out logically & everyone’s on board, then the human race will be improved. Hogwash. Not that I’d like to go back to the Dark Ages, but there’s far more to being human than factual, linear thinking. It seems that a majority of you don’t believe in God(s), but you sure as Hell believe in technology. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/14 "2003-08-13T11:03:23Z")
That’s some hard-core hijacking I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole. I read a tv guide article (it’s gotta be true!) about _The Dead Zone_ and its growing popularity. The producers commented that the fan base was predominantly female, because women are more in tune with the supernatural. It must be true, because half the women I know are huge fans/believers of John Edwards, or whatever his name is, and I don’t know a single guy (me included) that thinks he’s anything other than a confidence man. Each to her own, as it were. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/15 "2003-08-13T11:03:48Z")
What exactly is spiritual and supernatural knowledge **fessie**? BTW, where do you see that Rex implied that spiritual and supernatural knowledge is always inherently inferior to logic? He simply showed that a poll showed that women were more likely to believe in the supernatural than men. I don’t know whether or not the majority of Dopers are atheists (as you say they are -did you come to this conclusion using spiritual and supernatural knowledge?) or not, but those of us that are don’t _believe_ in technology, we’re already sure it exists. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/16 "2003-08-13T11:07:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fessie \* > Pffft! Interesting thread. Nothing to say yet - always the best policy, I suspect 😉 Help me out on one thing though, was that a mild flounce, **fossie** cos we don’t get a whole bunch of those in GD. Well, _not girlie_ flounces, anyway . . . ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/17 "2003-08-13T11:09:27Z")
**fessie** , even. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/18 "2003-08-13T12:20:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fessie \* > **Not that I’d like to go back to the Dark Ages, but there’s far more to being human than factual, linear thinking.** There’s also factual, parallel thinking. Also: I don’t believe in technology, regardless of what others here say. I believe that all our mechanical devices are actually being run by invisible, magic gnomes. Sometimes their songs hurt our minds, unless we block them out by wrapping our heads in tinfoil – like _so_. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/19 "2003-08-13T15:24:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by fessie \* > **No doubt you men will want a detailed response with facts and cites and a logical argument.** Whereas you women will instead divine your response from a Ouija board, right? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774/20 "2003-08-13T15:31:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ellis Dee \* > **It must be true, because half the women I know are huge fans/believers of John Edwards, or whatever his name is, and I don’t know a single guy (me included) that thinks he’s anything other than a confidence man.** [Here’s a guy](http://www.randi.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23922) who thinks John Edward is the Real Thing [TM]. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-more-likely-than-men-to-believe-in-the-spiritual-and-supernatural-why/194774.md?page=2)