People behave as intuitive theologians defending sacred values, not just as economists or scientists.

Evidence

Challenges to prevailing conceptions of rationality Students of judgment and choice have long paid homage to normative models of rationality anchored in narrowly utilitarian perspectives on human nature: people are posited to be either intuitive economists aspiring to maximize utility or intuitive scientists trying to discern predictive regularies [30,31] (see also Box 2). Research on sacred values suggests a supplementary perspective that posits people to be intuitive theologians struggling to defend sacred values from secular encroachments [32–34] (see Box 3. Questions for Future Research). — Philip E. Tetlock, Thinking the unthinkable, 39

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the ‘intuitive theologian’ framework naming the defender-of-sacred-values model of the mind.
• XREF: The intuitive-theologian lens connects to the reading purpose about professed conviction vs. measured bias and defensive moral reasoning. — connects to: Moral intuitions bind strangers into sacred communities that outcompete rivals — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 465; Merely contemplating trade-offs on sacred values provokes moral outrage beyond cognitive confusion — Philip E. Tetlock, Thinking the unthinkable: sacred values…, 12; Religious solidarity mechanisms extend moral concern to complete strangers

Related

• Sacredness is a functional universal that anchors compliance and resists secular contamination. (similarity 0.81)
• Philip E. Tetlock — Thinking the unthinkable sacred values and taboo cognitions (similarity 0.79)
• Sacred values resist tradeoffs because communities set them apart as nonfungible moral imperatives. (similarity 0.78)
• Merely contemplating trade-offs on sacred values provokes moral outrage beyond cognitive confusion (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Merely contemplating trade-offs on sacred values provokes moral outrage beyond cognitive confusion #corroborates (0.85) — Philip E. Tetlock, Thinking the unthinkable, 12
• Moral intuitions bind strangers into sacred communities that outcompete rivals #expands (0.82) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 465
• Religious solidarity mechanisms extend moral concern to complete strangers #expands (0.75)