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Reasoning About the Scope of Religious Norms: Evidence From Hindu and Muslim Children in India
Author(s) -
Srinivasan Mahesh,
Kaplan Elizabeth,
Dahl Audun
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13102
Subject(s) - hinduism , psychology , scope (computer science) , child development , developmental psychology , social psychology , religious studies , computer science , programming language , philosophy
Conflicts arise when members of one religion apply their norms to members of another religion. Two studies explored how one hundred 9‐ to 15‐year‐old Hindu and Muslim children from India reason about the scope of religious norms. Both Hindus and Muslims from a diverse Hindu–Muslim school (Study 1) and Hindus from a homogeneous Hindu school (Study 2) more often judged it wrong for Hindus to violate Hindu norms, compared to Muslim norms, and said the opposite for Muslims. In contrast, children judged it wrong for both Hindus and Muslims to harm others. Thus, even in a setting marred by religious conflict, children can restrict the scope of a religion's norms to members of that religion, providing a basis for peaceful coexistence.