The New Yorker seeks to explain the results of a recent poll which initially baffled me, stating that 46% of Americans adhere to a strict creationist view -- that humans were created in their present form within the past 10,000 years. The prevalence of this belief -- one which is categorically and demonstrably false -- can be explained, at least partially, in terms of neurophysiology.
Jonah Lehrer's Why We Don't Believe in Science, features a study showing that comprehending a scientific concept counter to intuition involves two specific brain processes, among others. The first of which involves a triggering of a part of the brain which perceives intuitive inconsistencies, and then a separate area in the more developed part of the brain whose role it is to suppress unwanted thoughts.
In essence, our brains are hardwired in their cores to detect intuitive inconsistencies - even if they are factually correct - and it is the more developed areas of our brains which are able to over-ride our knee-jerk reaction which blurts out "it doesn't make sense, so it can't be true!"
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