"Spiritual but not religious": Cognition, schizotypy, and conversion in alternative beliefs.
Cognition August 1, 2017 Aiyana K Willard, Ara Norenzayan 100 citations
People who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious (SBNR) hold more paranormal beliefs and report more mystical experiences and feelings of universal connectedness than either religious or non-religious individuals. However, SBNR individuals resemble religious individuals in their patterns of cognitive biases. They also score higher on measures of schizotypy. Conversions between groups since childhood are linked to specific cognitive differences: dualism predicts conversion to religion, while schizotypy predicts conversion to SBNR.