People Merge Supernatural and Scientific Beliefs When
Reasoning With the Unknown, Study Shows. Reliance on supernatural explanations
for major life events, such as death and illness, often increases rather than
declines with age, according to a new psychology study from The University of
Texas at Austin.
The study, published in the June issue of Child
Development, offers new insight into developmental learning.
"As children assimilate cultural concepts into their
intuitive belief systems -- from God to atoms to evolution -- they engage in
coexistence thinking," said Cristine Legare, assistant professor of
psychology and lead author of the study. "When they merge supernatural and
scientific explanations, they integrate them in a variety of predictable and
universal ways."
Legare and her colleagues reviewed more than 30 studies
on how people (ages 5-75) from various countries reason with three major
existential questions: the origin of life, illness and death. They also
conducted a study with 366 respondents in South Africa, where biomedical and
traditional healing practices are both widely available.
As part of the study, Legare presented the respondents
with a variety of stories about people who had AIDS. They were then asked to
endorse or reject several biological and supernatural explanations for why the
characters in the stories contracted the virus.
According to the findings, participants of all age groups
agreed with biological explanations for at least one event. Yet supernatural
explanations such as witchcraft were also frequently supported among children
(ages 5 and up) and universally among adults.
Among the adult participants, only 26 percent believed
the illness could be caused by either biology or witchcraft. And 38 percent
split biological and scientific explanations into one theory. For example:
"Witchcraft, which is mixed with evil spirits, and unprotected sex caused
AIDS." However, 57 percent combined both witchcraft and biological
explanations. For example: "A witch can put an HIV-infected person in your
path."
Legare said the findings contradict the common assumption
that supernatural beliefs dissipate with age and knowledge.
"The findings show supernatural explanations for
topics of core concern to humans are pervasive across cultures," Legare
said. "If anything, in both industrialized and developing countries,
supernatural explanations are frequently endorsed more often among adults than
younger children."
The results provide evidence that reasoning about
supernatural phenomena is a fundamental and enduring aspect of human thinking,
Legare said.
"The standard assumption that scientific and
religious explanations compete should be re-evaluated in light of substantial
psychological evidence," Legare said. "The data, which spans diverse
cultural contexts across the lifespan, shows supernatural reasoning is not
necessarily replaced with scientific explanations following gains in knowledge,
education or technology."
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