Previous research has shown that the more individuals view observable entities as animate, the more those entities are associated with having psychological and physiological experiences. This study examined the relationship between children's animistic and anthropomorphic reasoning for concepts of unobservable scientific (i.e., germ) and religious (i.e., God) entities. This study further explored how children's conceptions vary according to the social learning opportunities (i.e., discourse, rituals) parents reportedly create. Parent–child dyads with young children from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds participated. Three central findings emerged. First, children readily associated God with psychobiological characteristics but did not do so to the same extent for germs. Second, children applied more psychobiological properties to both entity types when they believed that the entity was animate. Third, engaging in rituals and discourse with parents was indirectly related to children's concepts of God but not related to their concepts of germs. Overall, this study presented support for a connection between children's animistic and anthropomorphic reasoning for unobservable entities, and an indirect effect of cultural input on this reasoning. The implications of these findings will be discussed.

中文翻译：

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上帝和细菌的概念：社会机制和认知启发式

先前的研究表明，越多的人将可观察实体视为有生命的，这些实体就越与心理和生理体验相关联。这项研究检验了儿童对不可观察的科学（即细菌）和宗教（即上帝）实体概念的万物有灵论和拟人推理之间的关系。本研究进一步探讨了儿童的观念如何根据据报道父母创造的社会学习机会（即话语、仪式）而变化。来自不同种族和宗教背景的孩子的父母-孩子二人组参加了。出现了三个核心发现。首先，孩子们很容易将上帝与心理生物学特征联系起来，但对细菌的看法却不尽相同。第二，当孩子们认为实体是有生命的时，他们将更多的心理生物学特性应用于这两种实体类型。第三，与父母进行仪式和谈话与孩子的上帝观念有间接关系，但与他们的细菌观念无关。总的来说，这项研究支持儿童对不可观察实体的万物有灵论和拟人推理之间的联系，以及文化输入对这种推理的间接影响。将讨论这些发现的影响。对不可观察实体的万物有灵论和拟人化推理，以及文化输入对这种推理的间接影响。将讨论这些发现的影响。对不可观察实体的万物有灵论和拟人化推理，以及文化输入对这种推理的间接影响。将讨论这些发现的影响。