Does having a college degree affect whether or not you believe in mythical creatures?

[salvorhardin]

Yes! But not always the way you think, according to this interesting result from a recent 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll concerning belief in mythical creatures. For Big Foot, unicorns, and vampires, people without college degrees were more likely to believe in them than those with degrees. However, that's reversed for the Loch Ness Monster and fairies. 26% of college graduates believed in Nessie, versus 18% of non-graduates. Meanwhile, 10% of people with degrees believed in fairies, compared to only 2% of non-degree holders. It should also be noted that while more people without degrees believed in vampires than those who did finish college, the difference is really slim -- 6% and 4% respectively.

Link: http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2012/03/60-minutes-poll-201203#slide=1

[Newest Reality]

1. One could only hope

that by application of the tools that a wide spectrum of language and thought can provide, that the nature of belief itself would be investigated thoroughly.

Once the nature of belief is divined, then one is free to turn what is considered serious, dogmatic or literally interpreted into symbolic liberation. Then, one becomes free to "believe" in a more creative and enjoyable way as play and recreation without a rigid compulsion to promulgate and enforce a belief.

Of knowledge, we know so little for a fact of what is, so we resort to beliefs that are either flexible or considered, erroneously, to be concrete. So, belief can be a placeholder for the potential of direct experience, a metaphor for function or change, or a form of playful ways to interpret what living in a world of abstraction provides.

[dimbear]

2. A decent acquaintance with English literature would encourage belief in fairies.

Not just the J M Barrie variety, either, altho that's a start. BTW, there exists a remarkable repertoire of 'photos' of fairies taken mostly in English gardens in, mostly, the Edwardian era. A truly obscure corner of the world's arcana, some quite gorgeous.

[Ter]

3. No surprise, intelligent people know Sasquatch's may exist

Only the ignorant would say no for sure.

[TZ]

8. I"m an intelligent person

and I've yet to see anything convincing about Sasquatch's existing. We can get pictures of animals that dwell thousands of feet below the surface of the sea but no good pictures of a large humanoid type forest dweller? Uh huh. I must be ignorant.
Oh yeah I have a Bachelor's in Zoology btw, clearly I know nothing on the topic.

[Ter]

9. I said "Only the ignorant would say no for sure"

You sound like a skeptic, which is fine. I also don't care about degrees, because they mean next to nothing (otherwise, all Supreme Court decisions would be 9-0). I don't have one in the field, but I'd be willing to bet I know a lot more on the subject because I've been fascinated with squatch's for 30 years, with tons of books and TV specials in my collection as well. But if you want to throw it out there, try looking up Professor Jeff Meldrum.

http://www.squatchopedia.com/index.php/Jeff_Meldrum

[RebelOne]

10. If you are so intelligent,

you would also be aware of the English language and punctuation. Sasquatach's is a possessive and not a possessive noun.

[SwissTony]

4. Not really a mythical creature...

but each year, I believe my miserable sports teams will do better than the last year.

Betting on the existence of unicorns doesn't seem so far-fetched.

[Silent3]

5. I think this data is being misrepresented

The question is "Which mythical creature do you think is most likely to actually exist?", not "Which creature that you believe exists is most likely to exist?"

I'd take the question as asked as a hypothetical, having to choose the most likely of a bunch of things that all seem unlikely to me, and it wouldn't be correct at all to treat my answer as a statement of a mythical creature that I actually believe in.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. It needs to be broken down the field of study.

[MineralMan]

7. It just goes to show you that

a college degree is no guarantee of the ability to think critically. It is very interesting to note that not one instance has anything near a majority who believe. Loch Ness Monster belief appears to be the one with the most graduate believers. That's due to the limited plausibility of some large animal still living, but in very small numbers. That's something a rational person might believe, although I do not.

However, the rest are all so small a percentage that they may safely be discounted.

Now, if you look at the percentage that believe in some sort of supernatural deity, the numbers will be much higher in both groups. That sort of mythical creature enjoys a certain popularity among many groups of people, educated and less so alike.