A religious upbringing strengthens children ’s belief in divine miracles, but not magic

By Emily Reynolds Children are exposed to all kinds of stories, fact and fiction. Books about figures such as Rosa Parks or Jesse Owens teach young people about history, while novels are populated with colourful characters like Harry Potter or Bilbo Baggins. Religious figures often represent a middle ground, both real and fantastical. So how do children differentiate between fantasy and real life figures — and how does religious teaching affect the way they make these kinds of distinctions? A new study, published in Memory & Cognition, finds that a religious upbringing leads kids to judge religious stories as real. But, interestingly, this doesn’t seem to make non-religious magical stories seem real. Participants were 85 children in Tehran; half were aged between 5 and 6, and half 9 to 10. The children were presented with twelve stories: three realistic, three magical, three religious and three unusual. In the realistic stories, only physically possible events occurred (e.g. a character feeds a hungry town by buying bread from a far-away city). In the magical condition, magical powers or fairies resolved the story (e.g. the character conjures bread from thin air). In the religious versions, the story was resolved through divine intervention (e.g. a character makes bread with powers given by God); and in the unusual condition, the story was resolved through implausible events (e.g. a character finds bread in a forest). After reading the stories the chi...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Developmental Religion Source Type: blogs