quack quack: 4 yr old duck, one of 5 ifs (the favorite is stella, 100 yr old robin) deen and...
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Imaginary Companions, Theory of Mind, and GodJ. Bradley WiggerLouisville Presbyterian Theological SeminaryJune 29, 2010 Cognition, Religion, and Theology Presentation, Merton College
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Who are some of these Invisible Friends?
Quack Quack: 4 yr old duck, one of 5 IFs (the favorite is Stella, 100 yr old robin)
Deen and Elizabeth: live in a brown house in an imaginary world. Also her Paw Paw,
comes to visit when the child is sad (her grandfather who died when she was 1)
Cinderella: a little girl but is sometimes a blue dog
Bob and Jefette: Bob knows karate and Jeffette is sometimes a boy, Jeff
Ruth and George: IFs of 5 yr old Ruth; she shares George with her 3 yr old sister
Lacey, Han, Bia-Bia, Eliana, and Tea: Tea inspired by Beauty and the Beast film
Leah and Coda: Coda died but came back 2 weeks before the interview
He-tome and Bu-gong: celebrate Halloween and Hanukkah and play with Dad’s (former) IF
Jump Jump and Jump Jax: IFs that are 8 yr old brothers
Lucy: a rabbit but sometimes a baby, a mom, tiger, lion, or a mouse
Dowey and Sammey: IFs of 7 yr old, around since she was 3.
The Holy Spirit: IF of 6 yr old, came at Christmastime.
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Is God just another Invisible Friend? 2 Views
If a significant portion of the adult world continues to hold an active belief in invisible spirits, let us not be so surprised at our children’s creation of make-believe friends or societies. Dorothy and Jerome Singer (1990, p. 90)
Guardian angels? Fairies? Ghosts? Creatures from outer space? Or even God? Should any of these be considered imaginary companions? I think not.
Marjorie Taylor (1999, p. 143)
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Barrett, Richert, and Dreisenga (2001): What does God Know?
Theory of Mind: A Way Into Testing the Question
ToM Studies with the “God question”:Barrett, J. L., Richert, R. A., & Dreisenga, A. (2001)Barrett, J. L., Moore Newman, R., & Richert, R. A. (2003) Barrett, J. L. & Richert, R. A. (2003);Knight, N., Sousa, P., Barrett, J. L. and Atran ,S. (2004)Giménez-Dasí, M., Guerrero, S., & Harris, P. L. (2005) Richert, R. A.. & Barrett, J. L. (2005)Makris, N., & Pnematikos, D. (2007)Knight, N. (2008)Lane, J., Wellman, H. W., & Evans, E. M. (2009)
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Surprise!
Jeffette
What will your friend think is in the box?
Younger say: “rocks”Older children say: “crayons”
But God is different: “rocks”
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So What about Invisible Friends?
What will Quack Quack think is in the crayon box?
Quack Quack
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If God is a form of, or much like, an imaginary friend we might expect—
Ho: There is no significant difference between the knowledge a child attributes to an IF and the knowledge attributed to God in ToM tasks, when a robust ToM emerges.
On the other hand, if God and imaginary friends are different types of non-human agents, then we might expect—
Ha: There is a significant difference between the knowledge a child attributes to an IF and the knowledge attributed to God in ToM tasks, when a robust ToM emerges.
Hypotheses
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3 types of ToM tasks
1) Occluded Picture 2) Secret Code 3) False Belief
tree book sun
4 agents: 1)VF Real/Visible friend; 2) IF Invisible Friend; 3) Dog; 4) God
Scoring: Agent knows=0Agent won’t know=1
Combined=3 possible
Methods
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3's 4's 5+'s0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Combined (all 3 tests)
VFIFDogGod
Age Groups
Lim
its o
f Kno
wle
dge
by A
gent
3 yr olds (n=9, M=41 months); 4 yr olds (n=16, M=52 months); 5-8 yr olds (n=11, M= 83 months).
All agents correlate significantly with age, p < .001, except God p = .36.
3s: No significant differences . All but dog are significantly below the mean for chance. p = .217
4s: Dog vs. God t (15) = 2.44, p = .028; Dog vs. IF t (15) = 2.79, p = .014; VF vs. IF t (15) = 2.11, p = .052, (approaching a trend to come)
Results: Analysis by Age Groups
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5-8 year olds
VF IF Dog God0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%Li
mit
s of
Know
ledge b
y agent
God vs. each agent, including IF, p < .001. Reject Ho.
Plus: IF vs. dog t (10) = 2.67, p = .023, IF vs. VF t (10) = 2.39, p = .038.
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Results: Analysis by ToM Facility(Based on children who scored 3 for Visible Friend)
VF IF Dog God0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Lim
its
of
know
ledge b
y agent
n=12, M=77 months (losing two 5+s, gaining three 4yr olds)God vs. VF or Dog, p < .001God and IF, t (11) = 4.02, p = .002 Reject Ho
IF and VF, t (11) = 2.99, p = .012
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Replication: 3 yr olds—don’t disentangle well.
4 yr olds—can begin differentiating types of agents.
5 and older—treat God differently.
Children easily attribute omniscience to God.
Extension: IFs and God are different (Reject Ho/Cannot Reject Ha)
IFs in unique territory
Summary
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Conclusion
Is God just another IF?
With Taylor—No, God is different
With the Singers—Well…
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Ability to represent and reason about immaterial individuals. (Keleman, 2004)
Ability to sense agency easily (whether seen or not)
Ability to be in relation to invisible agency
The in-between as potential religious territory. (Knight, 2008)
Cognitive Science of Religion
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