Cognitive rigidity and religious fundamentalism

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History does not line up with the Book of Mormon, biology does not line up with a literal interpretation of Genesis, and psychology does not line up with a punishing God who only views behavior. This view of the punishing God equates the abused woman who, receiving no compassion from law enforcement, kills her husband who has been threatening her with a gun, to the man who kills a child he has raped to prevent her/him from reporting the crime. This is more common when race is put into the equation. When we view the judicial system through this lens, we can see it more clearly for what it often becomes.
Literature can be particularly important in making learning relevant. When people of different cultures and religions are portrayed as human beings making ethical decisions, accommodation is easier. When history is portrayed through biography, primary materials, autobiography, or historical fiction, again, accommodation is easier.
When the child is taught at school that all that is written is true, invalidating the oral tradition of the family or community, more cognitive dissonance, and disrespect for parents, which undermines discipline, comes into play. When I was taught in high school that the Mormons were allowed to go west in order that they might have the religious freedom to practice polygamy, I vaguely knew that there was much more to the story than that, because I had ancestors in the Nauvoo area at the time.
When education is biased to please a powerful white minority, everyone loses. Do we teach the truth in our schools, or do we teach “white lies” in order to please the powerful white minority—and harm our children in the process?
Through my research and writing this book, I have achieved cognitive restructuring for myself. I sincerely hope it helps others
 
Jerusha said:
Exactly, good list of traits-- I added examples
Click to expand...
Okay, I see how you are comparing the two. Do you think it would count as cognitive rigidity if a person only showed these traits in association with religion (bible stuff, doctrines, moral judgments)? I’d think if they truly had the problem of rigidity, it would show up throughout their life, like when they are cooking, riding a bus, brushing their teeth, doing their job, etc. But I don’t have a background in psychology.

BTW, I completely understand what you say about having a mental structure in your head and trying to accommodate new learning or information. It is so much easier to learn new info if you have a space that fits on the hat rack, so to speak. Information with nowhere to go doesn’t stick.
 
Cognitive rigidity is one aspect of such disorders as obsessive-compulsive and asperger’s. It is not necessarily associated with sick religion.

I visualize it as structures made with k’nex knex.com/
 
Jerusha said:
I visualize it as structures made with k’nex knex.com/
Click to expand...
Those sort of look like advanced leggos. I wonder, you know how some bricks have more little places to snap on than others, do you suppose some people have less versatile bricks? Like a long brick, but instead of a row of little round snap-like things, it only has the snap-like things on the two ends, so they can’t snap another on in the middle, so to speak.
 
LOL!! You know more than you say you know. Now we are getting into the environmental vs innate intellectual ability debate. Yes, there is variation in innate intelligence. However, environmental variables interact with such complexity with innate, that it is impossible to determine how much either contributes in any given individual, unless we have extreme conditions, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, Down’s, or exterme abuse or neglect. Even that can be unsure.
 
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