Applications of Religious Norms across Contexts among Hindu and Muslim Children in India

• In Event: 2-088 - The Development of Religious Concepts and Norms Across Cultures

Integrative Statement

Most religions include norms regarding how to behave, but it is often unclear to whom these norms apply. For a Muslim child, if Allah is the true God, are all humans obligated to follow his commands? When religious individuals extend their own religious norms to members of other groups, conflicts ensue. Indeed, in India, Muslims have been attacked because they were suspected of violating the Hindu prohibition against killing cows. Here, we report findings from two studies involving Muslim and Hindu children in Gujarat, India¬. Our primary question was whether children would apply their own religious norms to members of other religions.

In Study 1, 32 Hindu and Muslim children (M¬=13.9 years) were interviewed about Hindu and Muslim protagonists who violated Hindu and Muslim norms, as well as a moral norm against physical harm. Children often stated that it was wrong for protagonists to violate their own religion’s norms (e.g., for Hindus to violate Hindu norms), but rarely judged it wrong for protagonists to violate the norms of the other religion, D(2)=86.93, p<.001 (Table 1). In contrast, children judged it wrong for both Hindus and Muslims to harm others. Also, children generally judged that religious norms did not apply if the relevant god(s) gave permission to violate them, but rarely judged that harming others would be okay, D(2)=197.92, p< .001.

Study 2 explored whether children show comparable levels of religious tolerance when a member from one religion enters the context of another group. Is it permissible for a Hindu child to eat during Ramadan while visiting a Muslim home? Hindu and Muslim children (N=40, M¬=14.1 years) were interviewed about situations in which a protagonist violated a religious norm. Protagonists were in a context that either matched their own religion or a different religion (e.g. Hindu protagonist in a Hindu or Muslim home). Again, the violated norm was either from a religion that matched or did not match the protagonist’s religion. When the norm religion did not match the context religion or the protagonist’s religion (e.g. Muslim norm violated by Hindu protagonist in Hindu context), participants almost never thought the action was wrong. However, when the norm and context religions matched, 46% said the act was wrong even if the protagonist was from a different religion (e.g. Muslim norm violated by Hindu child in a Muslim context), D(1)=60.01, p<.001 (Table 2). Participants were even more likely to judge the act as wrong when the norm religion and protagonist religion matched (e.g. Hindu violating a Hindu norm), regardless of context. Judgments about severity and punishability showed similar patterns, ps<.001.

Together, these findings reveal a nuanced picture of how Hindu and Muslim children apply religious norms. While children generally thought it was okay for a person to violate the norms of another religion, this changed dramatically when the person entered a context that belonged to that religion. Thus, although children’s application of religious norms across groups and contexts often allows for peaceful coexistence, it can also lead to conflict.

Authors

• Mahesh Srinivasan, UC Berkeley
  Presenting Author

• Catherine Berner, The Wright Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Audun Dahl, University of California Santa Cruz
  Non-Presenting Author