Study: Separating Fact From Fiction

[LiberalAndProud]

Study Says Children Exposed To Religion Can Have Trouble Separating Fact From Fiction

Abstract

In two studies, 5- and 6-year-old children were questioned about the status of the protagonist embedded in three different types of stories. In realistic stories that only included ordinary events, all children, irrespective of family background and schooling, claimed that the protagonist was a real person. In religious stories that included ordinarily impossible events brought about by divine intervention, claims about the status of the protagonist varied sharply with exposure to religion. Children who went to church or were enrolled in a parochial school, or both, judged the protagonist in religious stories to be a real person, whereas secular children with no such exposure to religion judged the protagonist in religious stories to be fictional. Children's upbringing was also related to their judgment about the protagonist in fantastical stories that included ordinarily impossible events whether brought about by magic (Study 1) or without reference to magic (Study 2). Secular children were more likely than religious children to judge the protagonist in such fantastical stories to be fictional. The results suggest that exposure to religious ideas has a powerful impact on children's differentiation between reality and fiction, not just for religious stories but also for fantastical stories.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cogs.12138/abstract

Unfortunately, the full article is behind a pay wall, more's the pity.

I find myself reflecting on a conversation I had recently with my 11-year-old granddaughter while watching a program together.

"Is that a real vampire?" she asked.

"He's a real vampire in the story, sweetheart. It's not real life," I answered.

I'm still not certain what she wanted to know when she asked the question, but figuring out what is real and what is not real is a challenge.

Something to think about, anyway.

[edhopper]

1. But teaching religion

Is just fantasy playing.
Or so it has been claimed.

[trotsky]

2. And we are left to wonder, what about the fictions in the adult world...

like climate change denialism, trickle-down economics, etc., etc. Does religion play a role in keeping people from discerning reality on those topics too?

[Warpy]

3. I think it just might

because such people generally wear their religion on their sleeves along with their anti science, anti intellectual attidudes.

Face it, religion is easier, you learned what you needed to learn about it before you were eight. Science is hard, you have to keep plugging away at it your whole life because new data appear every single year.

[ZombieHorde]

7. I wonder about that too.

Most adults have crazy beliefs. I assume I also have crazy beliefs.

The Israel/Palestine group is particularly interesting to me. The various sides often justify their positions by bringing up things that don't exist. Very interesting.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. My 5 year old would ace that with flying colors.

100% confidence.

[LiberalAndProud]

9. I think that

my granddaughter would have a more difficult time. The child has an atheist grandmother, a self-styled pagan-pantheist mother, neighborhood church-inviting neighbors, and a liberal dollop of progressive Christians in the mix. And most of us love each other most of the time.

What I know for sure is that she's taking in a wide spectrum. I think she'll be okay.

[cleanhippie]

12. As would mine.

[safeinOhio]

5. Mark Twain said

“It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”

[Warren Stupidity]

6. The apologists have already dismissed this study.

The explanations will arrive forthwith.

[longship]

8. I remember a little bit about 1st grade Sunday school.

It was a UCC (Congregational) church, so it was pretty damned liberal as religious sects go. Nevertheless, we still recited the Apostles' Crede and drank grape juice during communion. My family stopped attending when I was about thirteen. My parents suggested that we stop attending, but offered to drive any of us -- myself and my two sisters -- to church if we wanted. It was a very easy decision for me, and I imagine, my sisters. In short, all five of us agreed. We did not need church. And we never attended church together again, save weddings and funerals. But I always thought it was all a bit silly, even in that 1st grade class at church.

Good post.

[cbayer]

10. Just so you know, this was posted here in July and got some good discussion.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=142797

[LiberalAndProud]

11. Thanks.

I did look for an earlier posting. The good stuff always gets posted here. I guess I missed that one, or maybe forgot. I do that sometimes.