Depends on what you believe: Secular and religious children’s epistemic justifications of commonly-endorsed unobservable entities

Principal Author
Sarah Tanner
Graduate

Co-Author(s)
Pond Almendarez

Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Jennifer Clegg-Petz

Abstract

In this study, we asked religious (Christian) and secular U.S. children from two age groups (5-7-year-olds & 9-11-year-olds) about their belief in commonly-endorsed scientific and religious entities and the epistemic justifications for their beliefs (“How do you know [entity] exists?”). Children from both age groups and religious backgrounds were confident in the existence of scientific entities (see Figure 1). Children’s epistemic justifications were coded for mention of a testimonial source for their belief, an encounter with the entity, or elaboration about features of the entity. As depicted in Figure 2a, children’s justifications concerning scientific entities followed similar patterns across both age groups and religious backgrounds (mixed-effects binomial logistic regression; no main effects of age or religious background, p’s > .600). Children frequently elaborated about scientific entities. There was a significant three-way interaction between age, religious background, and explanation type (OR = 5.88, p = .021) for children’s justifications about religious entities. As shown in Figure 2b, secular children were more likely to refer to encounters than religious children and older religious children cited sources more frequently than the other groups of children. These findings indicate that both religious and secular U.S. children are receiving testimony that supports the existence of commonly-endorsed scientific entities. This is reflected in their beliefs and their tendency to elaborate to justify their belief. Older children expressed more skepticism and nominated testimony more in their justifications for religious entities, either referencing others’ lack of an encounter with or a source for their belief.

26 thoughts on “Depends on what you believe: Secular and religious children’s epistemic justifications of commonly-endorsed unobservable entities

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  11. It was very interesting to see that secular children had more encounters than religious children. I like how it explores the concept of what influences the beliefs of the different children.

  12. This study was very interesting. I enjoyed reading about the data from this study and thought it was very interesting to hear about the age groups beliefs.

  13. I have never really thought of the topic addressed in this research poster. It really made me think about how and why children do the things they do.

  14. I really like this study. The questions asked were very well thought out and organized. I think it is interesting to see how young children think.

  15. Very fascinating! Being a younger kid growing up you only know about one belief. Seeing how they get older and more skeptic makes sense because of out branching.

  16. It was a very interesting to find out that older children were more skeptical than younger children. Typically, when I think of someone older, i think that they have been raised longer under the same belief as their parents, therefore, had more of a connection to it.

  17. I think this study is extremely interesting. Growing up in private catholic school it never occurred to me just how different beliefs can be based on age and upbringing .

  18. This is a very interesting study. Good to know that secular and religious children are both confident in the existence of scientific entities.

  19. I thought this was a very intriguing study, as it provides insight into age groups that should be more studied under this subject. I think it is very interesting to hear the beliefs and directions of young people.

  20. Looking at beliefs and justifications in various age groups is very interesting. How they elaborate those beliefs, then, would likely impact other aspects of cognitive development.

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