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Author | Topic: Religious children have harder time between fact and fiction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Diomedes Member Posts: 995 From: Central Florida, USA Joined: |
An interesting read from a study performed and published in Cognitive Science.
Children Exposed To Religion Have Difficulty Distinguishing Fact From Fiction, Study Finds | HuffPost Latest News
quote: They don't have the actual numbers and counts from the study; would be interesting to see just how much of a difference it actually makes.
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Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1
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The answer is obvious. They dont believe that those stories are fictional---at least the Biblical ones.
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Diomedes Member Posts: 995 From: Central Florida, USA Joined: |
The answer is obvious. They dont believe that those stories are fictional---at least the Biblical ones. I think you missed the point. The religious children are actually indicating that they believe the stories in clearly fictional material (i.e. The Jungle Book) are actually factual. While secular children seem to be able to distinguish fact from fiction more easily.
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Tangle Member Posts: 9504 From: UK Joined: Member Rating: 4.7 |
Diomedes writes: They don't have the actual numbers and counts from the study It's a fairly technical paper - I can email you the pdf if you'd like to pm your address
2.1.1. Participants A total of sixty-six 5- and 6-year-old children participated (M = 5;8, SD = 6 months, range: 4;11—6;7, 36 female). Participants were recruited from kindergarten classrooms in public schools (n = 32) and parochial schools (n = 34) in Cambridge, MA, and the surrounding area. Most participants were White (61%), although other ethnicities were represented (21% Asian American, 18% African American). Irrespective of whether they attended a public school or a parochial school, children were asked about church attendance. Specifically, after presentation of the final story, children were asked, Does your family go to services? Children who said yes were categorized as churchgoers. Children who said no were categorized as non-churchgoers. This description of children’s religious home life was confirmed through consultation with the kindergarten teachers. The majority of children who said that they did attend services attended Christian services. We excluded the additional few children who said that they attended Jewish Temple (n = 6), because several of the stories used in the study are based on the New Testament (see Appendix A) and therefore would be likely to be less familiar to children who grew up in a Jewish family. For the 32 children who attended public school, 16 children (M = 5;7 years, SD = 5 months, 7 females) were identified as churchgoers. The remaining 16 children (M = 5;8 years, SD = 6 months, 8 females) were identified as non-churchgoers. For the 34 children who attended parochial school, 16 children (M = 5;9, SD = 5 months, 10 females) were identified as churchgoers. The remaining 18 children (M = 5;9, SD = 7 months, 10 females) were identified as non-churchgoers. In summary, three groups of children had exposure to religion: churchgoers who attended public school; non-churchgoers who attended parochial school; and churchgoers who attended parochial school. A fourth group of childrennon-churchgoers attending public schoolhad no exposure to religion in either church or school. Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android "Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved." - Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.
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ringo Member (Idle past 432 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined:
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I'm not sure it's necessary for 5-and-6-year-olds to distinguish between fact and fiction. If they can voluntarily give up their belief in Santa Claus a few years later, it doesn't seem to be much of a problem.
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NoNukes Inactive Member |
I'm not sure it's necessary for 5-I'm not sure it's necessary for 5-and-6-year-olds to distinguish between fact and fiction. If they can voluntarily give up their belief in Santa Claus a few years later, it doesn't seem to be much of a problem. Separating fact from fantasy is important even for 5 and 6 year olds. Some false beliefs are not as harmless as Santa Claus.Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846) I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. Galileo Galilei If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass
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Diomedes Member Posts: 995 From: Central Florida, USA Joined:
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Separating fact from fantasy is important even for 5 and 6 year olds. Some false beliefs are not as harmless as Santa Claus. I guess the issue is how far fictitious beliefs go. If they are carried into adulthood, that leads to problems. For things like Santa Claus, generally speaking, parents will have that 'talk' about Santa when the kids are at a certain age. I can't be certain one way or another if religious beliefs at a young age will automatically cloud an adults judgement. Clearly we have seen evidence of that, but I have also seen religious people who had lots of Bible study in childhood and yet they grow up with an ability to discern fact from fiction. I guess maybe it depends on how deeply one is 'indoctrinated'. And it probably doesn't have to be just religious beliefs. A child's mind is like a sponge. Children of racist parents or parents who have strong opinions on the New World Order and evil governments (i.e. the tinfoil helmet crowd) probably may have their worldviews skewed in adulthood.
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New Cat's Eye Inactive Member |
Separating fact from fantasy is important even for 5 and 6 year olds. Some false beliefs are not as harmless as Santa Claus.
I guess the issue is how far fictitious beliefs go. This really doesn't matter, but I thought I'd share since y'all sparked a memory: I remeber being a young child who still believed in Santa Claus and my parents had set out milk and cookies the night before. I had woken up on Christmas morning and noticed that the milk was gone and there were some crubs left over from the cookies. I asked my parents about it and they insisted that they didn't touch them, so it must have been Santa Clause that got into the goods. I was really bothered by the facts that, for one, somebody had been in our house the night before, and two, my parents knew about it and didn't care at all. The evidence was there for all of us to see and they didn't seem bothered by it in the least. That really left me kinda scared and uneasy about the whole thing. Turns out they were just fucking with me, but yeah, that's kind of a fucked up thing to do to a kid.
Clearly we have seen evidence of that, but I have also seen religious people who had lots of Bible study in childhood and yet they grow up with an ability to discern fact from fiction. I guess maybe it depends on how deeply one is 'indoctrinated'. I went through 12 years of Catholic education that included Bible study every year. The thing about the Catholics, though, is that they seem to be open to including new and updated information as we get it (like say theistic evolution), rather than digging their heals in on everything and indoctrinating children with all these anti-science mentalities (read: Creationism). It'd be interesting to see the same study contrasting Catholic and Evangelical children. I bet that the Catholic children would do better than the Evangelical ones.
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Tangle Member Posts: 9504 From: UK Joined: Member Rating: 4.7
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CS writes: The thing about the Catholics, though, is that they seem to be open to including new and updated information as we get it (like say theistic evolution), rather than digging their heals in on everything and indoctrinating children with all these anti-science mentalities (read: Creationism). No Catholics are much worse, they're pragmatists. They eventually change their rules to prevent themselves going out of business. Losing converts to Islam in Africa because dead babies don't go to heaven? No problem, do away with Limbo. All Catholics in modern developed countries use contraception which is a mortal sin. No problem, it's a matter of conscience. The earth not the centre of the universe? Well ok, it's time to stop torturing people. Priests must be celibate. We have a bunch of married Anglicans wanting to leave because of gay marriage. No problem they can be married Catholic priests. 2% of priests are paedophiles. No problem, we'll have our own rules and pretend we're above the law. Massive recruitment problem because of child abuse. No problem let's look into allowing priests to marry. Anything to survive eh?Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android "Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved." - Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.
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RAZD Member (Idle past 1425 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined: |
quote: It would be interesting to see how this holds up in longer term studies or in testing of people in: (1) middle school(2) high school (3) college (4) adulthood (5) US congress ... I think the later would prove very interesting ... Enjoyby our ability to understand Rebel☮American☆Zen☯Deist ... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ... to share. Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)
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Coragyps Member (Idle past 755 days) Posts: 5553 From: Snyder, Texas, USA Joined:
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Oh Hell! Don't do#5! That would be too depressing for a trainload of Prozac!
Edited by Coragyps, : No reason given.
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ringo Member (Idle past 432 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
NoNukes writes:
That's what parents are for. Some false beliefs are not as harmless as Santa Claus. Children need to learn at their own pace to distinguish fact from fiction and parents need to protect them from the dangerous fictions. Everybody should also retain an appreciation for fiction. What appalls me most about doctrinaire religionists is not that they can't recognize a talking snake as fiction but that they equate fiction with "lies". If you appreciate fiction, there's a much finer line betwen "fact and fiction" and you have to work harder at understanding. That's something that children shouldn't be pushed into too quickly.
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New Cat's Eye Inactive Member |
No Catholics are much worse, they're pragmatists. They eventually change their rules to prevent themselves going out of business. Losing converts to Islam in Africa because dead babies don't go to heaven? No problem, do away with Limbo. All Catholics in modern developed countries use contraception which is a mortal sin. No problem, it's a matter of conscience. The earth not the centre of the universe? Well ok, it's time to stop torturing people. Priests must be celibate. We have a bunch of married Anglicans wanting to leave because of gay marriage. No problem they can be married Catholic priests. 2% of priests are paedophiles. No problem, we'll have our own rules and pretend we're above the law. Massive recruitment problem because of child abuse. No problem let's look into allowing priests to marry. How does all that result in Catholic children being less able to distinguish fact from fiction than Evangelical ones? Or was that just some good old fashioned knee-jerk hatin' on the Catholics?
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Tangle Member Posts: 9504 From: UK Joined: Member Rating: 4.7 |
CS writes: How does all that result in Catholic children being less able to distinguish fact from fiction than Evangelical ones? You introduced the "Catholics are better than Creationists" argument, not me.
Or was that just some good old fashioned knee-jerk hatin' on the Catholics? Or was this just a silly thing to say?Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android "Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved." - Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.
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New Cat's Eye Inactive Member |
You introduced the "Catholics are better than Creationists" argument, not me. Better at not indoctrinating children so that they cannot distinguish between fact and fiction:
quote:
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