Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Variation In The Anthropomorphization Of Supernatural Beings And Its Implications For Cognitive Theories Of Religion., Andrew Shtulman
Variation In The Anthropomorphization Of Supernatural Beings And Its Implications For Cognitive Theories Of Religion., Andrew Shtulman
Andrew Shtulman
The cognitive study of religion has been highly influenced by P. Boyer's (2001, 2003) claim that supernatural beings are conceptualized as persons with counterintuitive properties. The present study tests the generality of this claim by exploring how different supernatural beings are conceptualized by the same individual and how different individuals conceptualize the same supernatural beings. In Experiment 1, college undergraduates decided whether three types of human properties (psychological, biological, physical) could or could not be attributed to two types of supernatural beings (religious, fictional). On average, participants attributed more human properties to fictional beings, like fairies and vampires, than to …
The Relation Between Essentialist Beliefs And Evolutionary Reasoning, Andrew Shtulman, Laura Schulz
The Relation Between Essentialist Beliefs And Evolutionary Reasoning, Andrew Shtulman, Laura Schulz
Andrew Shtulman
Historians of science have pointed to essentialist beliefs about species as major impediments to the discovery of natural selection. The present study investigated whether such beliefs are impediments to learning this concept as well. Participants (43 children aged 4–9 and 34 adults) were asked to judge the variability of various behavioral and anatomical properties across different members of the same species. Adults who accepted within-species variation—both actual and potential—were significantly more likely to demonstrate a selection-based understanding of evolution than adults who denied within-species variation. The latter demonstrated an alternative, incorrect understanding of evolution and produced response patterns that were …
The Development Of Core Knowledge Domains, Andrew Shtulman
The Development Of Core Knowledge Domains, Andrew Shtulman
Andrew Shtulman
No abstract provided.