Agnostics as a distinct psychological type between believers and atheists: A personality perspective

Karim, Moïse [UCL] Saroglou, Vassilis [UCL]

Is the distinction between agnosticism and atheism only epistemic or does it reflect deeper personality and other individual differences? Does family religious versus irreligious socialization count? When present, is spirituality of agnostics similar to the ones of atheists and the religionists? We investigated these questions on an online sample of 537 UK adults, self-identified as Christian, agnostic, or atheist. Agnostics were midway between religionists and atheists on prosocial dispositions (agreeableness and belief in world’s benevolence), outcomes of intuitive thinking (paranormal beliefs, religiosity), and non-theistic and immanent forms of spirituality; and showed higher openness to experience and weaker convictional self-identification than atheists. Personality uniquely, beyond religious socialization, predicted agnosticism versus atheism. Spirituality denoted, across all three convictional groups, connectedness with the world, interest in the paranormal, and life satisfaction; among nonbelievers, personal belief in a just-world; and prosocial dispositions and openness to experience among agnostics and Christians but not atheists.