Anthropomorphism or Preparedness? Exploring Children's God Concepts

Justin L. Barrett · Rebekah A. Richert

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Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology Study and Philosophy of Religion Child and Animal Learning Development

Abstract

Historically, the development of God concepts in human cognition has been explained anthropomorphically. In other words, for children especially, God is a big, super-human who lives in the sky. Recent empirical research on the development of these concepts may suggest an alternative hypothesis. In this paper, we review this research and outline the "preparedness hypothesis," which suggests that children may be cognitively equipped to understand some properties of God in a non-anthropomorphic way.

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References

2001Meta-Analysis of Theory-of-Mind Development: The Truth about False Belief 2013Child's Conception of the World 1993Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion 1996Conceptualizing a Nonnatural Entity: Anthropomorphism in God Concepts 1996The Naturalness of Religious Ideas: A Cognitive Theory of Religion 2001Cognitive and Contextual Factors in the Emergence of Diverse Belief Systems: Creation versus Evolution 1965Religious Thinking from Childhood to Adolescence 2001God's Beliefs versus Mother's: The Development of Nonhuman Agent Concepts

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2004The cognitive and evolutionary psychology of religion 2010Children’s Understanding of Ordinary and Extraordinary Minds 2011Cognitive Science of Religion: Looking Back, Looking Forward 2015How Children and Adults Represent God's Mind 2009Is our brain hardwired to produce God, or is our brain hardwired to perceive God? A systematic review on the role of the brain in mediating religious experience

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