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Children's Thinking About Diversity of Belief in the Early School Years: Judgments of Relativism, Tolerance, and Disagreeing Persons
Author(s) -
Wainryb Cecilia,
Shaw Leigh A.,
Langley Marcie,
Cottam Kim,
Lewis Renee
Publication year - 2004
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/j.1467-8624.2004.00701.x
Subject(s) - psychology , relativism , diversity (politics) , social psychology , developmental psychology , epistemology , law , political science , philosophy
Children's thinking about diversity of belief in 4 realms—morality, taste, facts, and ambiguous facts—was examined. Ninety‐six participants (ages 5, 7, and 9) were interviewed about beliefs different from their own that were endorsed by characters with different status; their judgments of relativism, tolerance, and disagreeing persons were assessed. Five‐year‐olds made fewer relative and tolerant judgments than 7‐ and 9‐year‐olds. Nevertheless, participants of all ages organized their judgments according to the realm of diversity, thought that some beliefs are relative and some are nonrelative, and made tolerant judgments of some divergent beliefs (and their proponents) but not of others. The findings suggest that, in the early school years, children have multiple and well‐differentiated perspectives on belief diversity.