Religious children have harder time between fact and fiction

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:

---

Researchers presented 5- and 6-year-old children from both public and parochial schools with three different types of stories -- religious, fantastical and realistic —- in an effort to gauge how well they could identify narratives with impossible elements as fictional.

​

The study found that, of the 66 participants, children who went to church or were enrolled in a parochial school were significantly less able than secular children to identify supernatural elements, such as talking animals, as fictional.

---

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.

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.

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.