ABSTRACT

The recent proliferation of research on children’s supernatural concepts is noteworthy, as this work is necessary for a full account of human cognition. Despite this advancement in our field, there is a lingering tendency for scholars to exotify supernatural concepts; to treat them as distinct or special. Arguments have been raised that these concepts are “prepared” to develop, even inherent; other arguments dismiss these ideas as “immature” or “childish.” Yet, the empirical record documents that supernatural concepts are no more inherent and no more childish than “natural” concepts. Just like concepts of nature, supernatural concepts are constructed upon and constrained by one’s existing conceptual architecture. I illustrate these points by drawing upon work on children’s understanding of supernatural minds, like the minds of “omniscient” deities. This work reveals that young children have great difficulty in understanding such purported minds, but through a protracted developmental process children and adults may gradually approach an understanding of all-knowingness. Based on these and other data, I argue that constructivism makes possible some supernatural ideas that are typically not realized until late childhood or adulthood, contradicting both the view that supernatural concepts are inherent and the view that such concepts are “childish”. As well, I emphasize that understanding how children develop beliefs in supernatural concepts requires understanding how they construct mental representations of those concepts. Embracing the fact that supernatural concepts develop through the same processes as concepts of nature will help to further bring research on these critical topics into the mainstream.

摘要

最近对儿童超自然概念的研究激增值得注意，因为这项工作对于全面解释人类认知是必要的。尽管我们的领域取得了这种进步，但学者们仍然有一种挥之不去的超自然概念的倾向。将它们视为独特的或特殊的。有人提出这些概念是“准备”发展的，甚至是固有的；其他论点认为这些想法“不成熟”或“幼稚”。然而，经验记录表明，超自然的概念并不比“自然”概念更内在、更幼稚。就像自然的概念一样，超自然的概念是建立在一个人现有的概念架构之上并受其约束的。我通过利用儿童对超自然思想的理解来说明这些观点，例如“全知”神灵的思想。这项工作揭示了幼儿很难理解这种所谓的思想，但通过长期的发展过程，儿童和成人可能会逐渐接近对全知的理解。基于这些和其他数据，我认为建构主义使一些通常直到童年晚期或成年期才实现的超自然想法成为可能，这与超自然概念是固有的观点和这些概念是“幼稚的”的观点相矛盾。同样，我强调了解儿童如何发展 我认为，建构主义使一些通常要到童年晚期或成年期才能实现的超自然想法成为可能，这与超自然概念是固有的观点和这些概念是“幼稚的”的观点相矛盾。同样，我强调了解儿童如何发展 我认为，建构主义使一些通常要到童年晚期或成年期才能实现的超自然想法成为可能，这与超自然概念是固有的观点和这些概念是“幼稚的”的观点相矛盾。同样，我强调了解儿童如何发展对超自然概念的信念需要了解他们如何构建这些概念的心理表征。接受超自然概念通过与自然概念相同的过程发展的事实将有助于进一步将这些关键主题的研究带入主流。