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

Burdett, Emily R.R.; Wigger, J. Bradley; Barrett, Justin L.

Abstract

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 four different countries (United Kingdom, Israel, 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-group 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.

Citation

Burdett, E. R., Wigger, J. B., & Barrett, J. L. (2019). The Minds of God, Mortals, and In-betweens: Children's Developing Understanding of Extraordinary and Ordinary Minds across Four Countries. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 13(2), 212–221. https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000285

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 25, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 2, 2019
• Publication Date: Sep 2, 2019
• Deposit Date: Aug 30, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 30, 2019
• Journal: Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
• Print ISSN: 1941-1022
• Electronic ISSN: 1943-1562
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 212–221
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000285
• Keywords: Applied Psychology; Religious studies; Social Psychology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2521335
• Publisher URL: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-51649-001?doi=1
• Related Public URLs: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/rel/
• Additional Information: ©American Psychological Association, 2019. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. Please do not copy or cite without author's permission. The final article is available, upon publication, at: https://doi.org/10.1037/rel0000285