Extending the Belief Certainty Curve: A Comparison of Religious and Political Beliefs

A growing literature demonstrates a curvilinear relationship between extremism and dogmatism: that is, people with more extreme political views tend to hold their beliefs with more certainty. This paper replicates work on political ideology and extends the research base to include beliefs across the religious spectrum. Drawing on representative data from a UK survey (N=1136), we tested the hypothesis that greater certainty about beliefs would be expressed by those at either end of the scale compared to those in the center with respect to both political and religious beliefs. We found evidence for the existence of what we term ‘the belief certainty curve’ in a both ideological dimensions, including social and economic conservativism, nationalism, religiosity, atheism and belief in the paranormal. In extending the explanatory range of the curve, we provide further evidence of the role of certainty in belief systems and offer an extended program of research to further explore the general structure of belief systems.