ERIC Number: EJ1432709
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1524-8372
EISSN: EISSN-1532-7647
To Accept or Reject? Hindu and Muslim Children's Views of Religious, Moral, and Conventional Norms
Mahesh Srinivasan; Audun Dahl
Journal of Cognition and Development, v25 n4 p573-601 2024
Faced with myriad societal norms, children must decide which norms to accept and which to reject. These decisions hold consequences for how norms change over time. Decisions about norms are particularly salient for religious children in pluralistic societies, who encounter norms both from their own as well as from other religious and non-religious communities. Although children follow norms and disapprove of their violation from early in life, this should not be taken to mean that children "approve" of the norms themselves: a person can disapprove of a norm that they follow and enforce upon others. The present study examined religious children's views about the authorship, utility, changeability, and changeworthiness of norms. Ninety-seven Hindu and Muslim 9- to 14-year-olds (46 female and 51 male) in India were interviewed about familiar religious, moral, and conventional norms. As predicted, children's views about whether a norm should be changed (its "changeworthiness") were predicted by how good they perceived the norm to be (its "utility"). Also as hypothesized, children's views about who, if anyone, could change a norm (its "changeability") was predicted by their views about who made the norm (its "authorship"). Children distinguished between norms based on their perceived authorship, utility, changeability, and changeworthiness. Age and religious differences also emerged. Together, these findings elucidate how children come to accept or reject norms, which ultimately affects how norms persist, change, or disappear over time.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Preadolescents, Early Adolescents, Religion, Muslims, Social Behavior, Behavior Standards, Adolescent Attitudes, Information Seeking
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: India
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A