The current study examined (a) the impact of religious socialization practices and parents’ concepts on the development of an abstract religious concept (i.e., God) in young children, and (b) whether or not children’s socio-cognitive ability moderates the relationship between their religious concept and sources of information about the concept. 215 parent-child dyads from diverse religious backgrounds (Protestant Christian, Roman Catholic, Muslim, non-affiliated) participated. Children were between the ages of 3.52 and 6.98 years of age (M = 4.770, SD = .767). Four main findings emerged from this study. First, children conceptualized God as more humanlike than their parents did. Second, younger children were more likely to have a humanlike conception of God than older children. Third, parents’ concept of God and children’s concept of God had a stronger relationship when the child’s mental-state reasoning was more accurate. Fourth, the frequency of children’s engagement in religious practices was unrelated to children’s concept of God after controlling for child’s age. Taken together, these findings lend support for the view that social cognition is an important factor in young children’s acquisition of cultural information about abstract entities.

当前的研究调查了（a）宗教社会化实践和父母观念对幼儿抽象宗教观念（即上帝）发展的影响，以及（b）儿童的社会认知能力是否缓和了儿童之间的关系。他们的宗教观念和有关观念的信息来源。参加了215个来自不同宗教背景（新教基督教，罗马天主教，穆斯林，非隶属关系）的亲子双胞胎。儿童年龄在3.52至6.98岁之间（M = 4.770，SD= .767）。这项研究得出了四个主要发现。首先，孩子比父母更将上帝概念化为人性化。其次，年幼的孩子比年长的孩子更有可能具有人性化的上帝观念。第三，当孩子的心理状态推理更加准确时，父母对上帝的观念与孩子对上帝的观念之间的关系就更紧密。第四，在控制了儿童的年龄之后，儿童参与宗教活动的频率与儿童的上帝观念无关。综上所述，这些发现为以下观点提供了支持：社会认知是幼儿获取有关抽象实体的文化信息的重要因素。