(Dis)Belief in God Among Younger and Older Poles: Analytic Thinking and Cultural Learning Between Generations and Over Time

ABSTRACT Religious disbelief is increasing worldwide, yet its cognitive and cultural foundations remain debated. We examined how analytic thinking and cultural learning shape (dis)belief across generations and over time. Study 1 compared younger (18–39, n = 427) and older (40+, n = 639) Polish adults. Younger adults displayed higher analytic thinking and lower belief in God, and analytic thinking was negatively associated with belief across the full sample. Study 2 replicated this pattern in two nationally representative samples (younger: n = 845; older: n = 880) and showed that younger adults scored lower on exposure to credible childhood religious modeling (CREDs). Although both analytic thinking and CREDs predicted disbelief, their interaction was nonsignificant. Cross‐lagged longitudinal analyses over 6 and 12 months indicated that bidirectional effects did not hold after accounting for stable individual differences. These findings suggest that the link between analytic thinking and belief reflects a stable trait‐like pattern.