Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-wq2xx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T20:54:36.168Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A developmental perspective on the cultural evolution of prosocial religious beliefs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2016

Kathleen H. Corriveau  and
Eva E. Chen
Kathleen H. Corriveau
Affiliation:
Boston University, School of Education, Boston, MA 02215. kcorriv@bu.eduhttp://www.bu.edu/learninglab
Eva E. Chen
Affiliation:
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong. evaechen@ust.hk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Norenzayan et al. argue that prosocial religion develops through cultural evolution. Surprisingly, they give little attention to developmental accounts of prosocial religious beliefs. A consideration of the developmental literature supports some, but not all, of the authors’ conclusions.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e8
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrett, J. L., Richert, R. A. & Driesenga, A. (2001) God's beliefs versus mother's: The development of non-human agent concepts. Child Development 72:50–65.Google Scholar
Chen, E. E., Corriveau, K. H. & Harris, P. L. (2013) Children lose trust in a consensus composed of outgroup members – but do not retain that trust. Child Development 84:269–82.Google Scholar
Corriveau, K. H., Chen, E. E. & Harris, P. L. (2015) Judgments about fact and fiction by children from religious and nonreligious backgrounds. Cognitive Science 39(2):353–82.Google Scholar
Corriveau, K. H., Fusaro, M. & Harris, P. L. (2009) Going with the flow: Preschoolers prefer nondissenters as informants. Psychological Science 20(3):372–77.Google Scholar
Corriveau, K. H., Kinzler, K. D. & Harris, P. L. (2013) Accuracy trumps accent in children's endorsement of object labels. Developmental Psychology 49:470–79.Google Scholar
Gaither, S. E., Chen, E. E., Corriveau, K. H., Harris, P. L., Ambady, N. & Sommers, S.R. (2014) Monoracial and biracial children: Effects of racial identity saliency on learning and social preferences. Child Development 85:2299–316.Google Scholar
Heiphetz, L., Spelke, E. S. & Banaji, M. R. (2013a) Patterns of implicit and explicit attitudes in children and adults: Tests in the domain of religion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 142:864–79.Google Scholar
Heiphetz, L., Spelke, E. S., Harris, P. L. & Banaji, M. R. (2013b) The development of reasoning about beliefs: Fact, preference, and ideology. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 49:559–65.Google Scholar
Kinzler, K. D., Corriveau, K. H. & Harris, P. L. (2011) Children's selective trust in native-accented speakers. Developmental Science 14(1):106–11.Google Scholar
Lane, J. D., Wellman, H. M. & Evans, E. M. (2014) Sociocultural input facilitates children's developing understanding of extraordinary minds. Child Development 83:1007–21.Google Scholar
Lanman, J. (2012) The importance of religious displays for belief acquisition and secularization. Journal of Contemporary Religion 27:49–65.Google Scholar
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life (2008) U.S. Religious landscape survey. Religious affiliation: Diverse and dynamic. Pew Research Center.Google Scholar
Vaden, V. C. & Woolley, J. D. (2011) Does God make it real? Children's belief in religious stories from the Judeo-Christian tradition. Child Development 82:1120–35.Google Scholar
Woolley, J. D. & Cox, V. (2007) Development of beliefs about storybook reality. Developmental Science 10:681–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed