The Minds of God, Mortals, and In-Betweens: Children's Developing Understanding of Extraordinary and Ordinary Minds Across Four Countries

Several theory-of-mind (ToM) studies have explored how children differentiate ordinary minds (humans, dogs) and extraordinary minds (God, spirits), but these studies have yielded divergent results and interpretations and have not offered cross-cultural comparisons of samples. To address these limita...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology of religion and spirituality 2021-05, Vol.13 (2), p.212-221
Main Authors: Burdett, Emily R. R., Wigger, J. Bradley, Barrett, Justin L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age differences
Animal Development
Childhood Development
Children
Children & youth
Cognition
Cross Cultural Differences
Cross Cultural Psychology
Cross cultural studies
Dogs
Female
God
God Concepts
Human
Humans
Ignorance
Male
Mind
Religion
Response Parameters
Spirits
Theory of Mind
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Summary:Several theory-of-mind (ToM) studies have explored how children differentiate ordinary minds (humans, dogs) and extraordinary minds (God, spirits), but these studies have yielded divergent results and interpretations and have not offered cross-cultural comparisons of samples. To address these limitations, children (3-5 years old) in 4 different countries (the United Kingdom, Israel, the Dominican Republic, and Kenya) were given a knowledge-ignorance ToM task and asked to reason about the minds of various ordinary and extraordinary minds, depending upon the culture. All children were asked about a human and God. Results revealed within-group differences based upon age for the human and for God for some samples, but not all; and results showed between-groups differences for how children treated God's mind and human minds (as well as other extraordinary minds). The within-group different response patterns across age is not surprising if ToM is considered a developmental accomplishment, improving with age. But the differences in response patterns between samples points to a larger role culture plays for children's understandings of extraordinary minds such as God's.
ISSN:1941-1022
1943-1562
DOI:10.1037/rel0000285