ERIC Number: EJ1202521
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Oct
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2158-2440
EISSN: N/A
Growing up Thinking of God's Beliefs: Theory of Mind and Ontological Knowledge
Di Dio, Cinzia; Isernia, Sara; Ceolaro, Chiara; Marchetti, Antonella; Massaro, Davide
SAGE Open, v8 n4 Oct 2018
The study of social cognition involves the attribution of states of mind to humans, as well as, quite recently, to nonhuman creatures, like God. Some studies support the role of social cognition in religious beliefs, whereas others ascribe religious beliefs to an ontological knowledge bias. The present study compares these distinct approaches in 37 catholic children aged 4 to 10 years, who were administered an adapted version of the unexpected content task assessing false beliefs of different agents: a human, a dog, a robot, and God. The children were also administered an intentionality understanding task, a component of mentalization abilities, and an interview on ontological knowledge assessing emotions, intentions, imagination, and epistemic knowledge. In line with previous research, the results showed that children did not attribute false beliefs to God as they did to the human and to other nonhuman agents. Importantly, while false-belief attribution to the human was associated with the children's ability to attribute mental states (intentionality understanding), false-belief attribution to God was related to children's ontological knowledge. We conclude that, contrary to false-belief attribution to the human and to other nonhuman agents, children's understanding of God's mind is largely a function of ontological knowledge about God, rather than of children's social cognitive functions.
Descriptors: Theory of Mind, Social Cognition, Religion, Beliefs, Comparative Analysis, Animals, Robotics, Task Analysis, Religious Factors, Cognitive Ability, Intention, Imagination, Epistemology, Emotional Response, Attribution Theory, Preschool Children, Elementary School Students, Catholics, Summer Programs, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Italy
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A