The Multifaceted Nature of Religious Belief, Practice, and Identity across Development and Culture

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Religion is an important part of life for many children and adults around the world. At the same time, religion is not one unified construct; rather, it encompasses diverse components such as beliefs, behaviors, and group identity. This panel brings together four papers highlighting different aspects of religion to clarify how these components develop, shed light on how children and adults bring these components together, and engender discussion about what constitutes religion.

In the United States, many view religion as a belief system. Paper 1 adopts this approach to show that theory of mind development underlies attributions of moral beliefs to God in this culture. Yet, many cultures emphasize practice over belief. Based on interviews with Hindu and Muslim children in India, Paper 2 shows that with increasing age, children become more likely to view religious norms concerning appropriate behavior as applying only to members of their religious group. However, participants judged that moral norms applied to all religious groups, demonstrating a distinction between moral and religious cognition. Building on the notion that religion demarcates group membership, Paper 3 investigates the development of religious group identity among dominant and minority group members in Northern Ireland. Paper 4 integrates these perspectives by discussing how religious beliefs, practices, and identities shape children's and adults' social experiences. Taken together, these papers break down religion into its constitutive elements, elucidate developmental processes underlying changes in each element, and show how people integrate these elements to understand the world in which they live.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chair

• Larisa Heiphetz Solomon, Columbia University

Individual Presentations

• Religion as a Belief System: Changing Understandings of God's Mental States across Development - Presenting Author: Larisa Heiphetz Solomon, Columbia University; Abby McLaughlin, Boston College; Ayse Payir, Boston University

• Developmental Changes in Reasoning about Religious Norms: Insights from Hindu and Muslim Children in India - Presenting Author: Mahesh Srinivasan, University of California - Berkeley; Audun Dahl, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Children’s Awareness of their Religious Identity in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland - Presenting Author: Hannah Jean Kramer, Queen’s University Belfast; Laura K. Taylor, University College Dublin (UCD); John D Coley, Northeastern University; Aidan Feeney, Queen's University Belfast; Katherine D. Kinzler, University of Chicago; Jocelyn B Dautel, Queen’s University Belfast

• Explaining and Solving Practical Problems Supernaturally - Presenting Author: Cristine H. Legare, University of Texas at Austin; Rachel Watson-Jones