Reasoning about Religious Norms Across the Lifespan: Applications, Violations, and Alterations

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Religious norms are fundamental to the development of religious identity and practice. Given the complexities of religious knowledge—which depend on ancient, contested, and sometimes contradictory sources—people often disagree about the right way to eat, dress, pray, and treat others. Tragically, such disagreements have led to violent conflicts, both within and between groups (Atran & Ginges, 2012; Rai & Fiske, 2015). In recent years, developmental psychologists have begun to uncover the processes by which children, adolescents, and adults acquire and apply religious norms. This symposium comprises research from children, adolescents and adults from three countries, to examine the development of reasoning about the applications, violations, and alterations of religious norms.

The first paper discusses how Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim children from India and Israel apply religious norms across group boundaries. The studies find that children judge that a person need only abide by the norms of their own religion (e.g., a Muslim should follow Muslim but not Hindu norms). The second paper reports evidence for how adults, but not children, expect God to respond more mercifully than humans to norm violations. The third paper reports evidence that religious youth increasingly differentiate the origins, functions, and changeability of religious norms from other kinds of norms. The fourth paper reports findings on how young Muslim adults think about natural disasters and whether they reflect God’s punishment of sinners. The discussion will focus on common themes, contrasts, and new research directions on the development of reasoning about religious norms.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chairs

• Audun Dahl, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Mahesh Srinivasan, University of California - Berkeley

Individual Presentations

• Children’s tolerance of religious norm violations: Lessons from Israel and India - Presenting Author: Gil Diesendruck, Bar Ilan University; Non-Presenting Author: Sapir Roash, Bar Ilan University; Non-Presenting Author: Yael Trujillo, Bar Ilan University; Non-Presenting Author: Mahesh Srinivasan, University of California - Berkeley

• Children’s and Adults’ Attributions of Moral Judgments to Humans and God - Presenting Author: Ayse Payir, Boston University; Non-Presenting Author: Larisa Heiphetz Solomon, Columbia University

• Conceptions of the Origins, Functions, and Changeability of Religious and Non-Religious Norms Among Hindu and Muslim Youth in India - Presenting Author: Audun Dahl, University of California - Santa Cruz; Non-Presenting Author: Jehanita Jesuthasan, University of California, Berkeley; Non-Presenting Author: Jon Wehry, University of California - Berkeley; Non-Presenting Author: Mahesh Srinivasan, University of California - Berkeley

• Faith, Morality, and God: How Members of Abrahamic Religions Account for Moral Rules and Natural Disasters - Presenting Author: Larry P Nucci, University of California - Berkeley; Non-Presenting Author: Nilay Kuyel, San José State University; Non-Presenting Author: Nadia Sorkhabi, San Jose State University