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Sociocultural Input Facilitates Children’s Developing Understanding of Extraordinary Minds
Author(s) -
Lane Jonathan D.,
Wellman Henry M.,
Evans E. Margaret
Publication year - 2012
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.1467-8624.2012.01741.x
Subject(s) - sociocultural evolution , psychology , theory of mind , attribution , perception , ignorance , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , social psychology , cognition , epistemology , philosophy , neuroscience , sociology , anthropology
Three‐ to 5‐year‐old ( N = 61) religiously schooled preschoolers received theory‐of‐mind (ToM) tasks about the mental states of ordinary humans and agents with exceptional perceptual or mental capacities. Consistent with an anthropomorphism hypothesis, children beginning to appreciate limitations of human minds (e.g., ignorance) attributed those limits to God. Only 5‐year‐olds differentiated between humans’ fallible minds and God’s less fallible mind. Unlike secularly schooled children, religiously schooled 4‐year‐olds did appreciate another agent’s less fallible mental abilities when instructed and reminded about those abilities. Among children who understood ordinary humans’ mental fallibilities, knowledge of God predicted attributions of correct epistemic states to extraordinary agents. Results suggest that, at a certain point in ToM development, sociocultural input can facilitate an appreciation for extraordinary minds.