Imaginary Companions, Theory of Mind, and GodJ. Bradley WiggerLouisville Presbyterian Theological SeminaryJune 29, 2010 Cognition, Religion, and Theology Presentation, Merton College

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 dogBob 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 sisterLacey, Han, Bia-Bia, Eliana, and Tea: Tea inspired by Beauty and the Beast filmLeah and Coda: Coda died but came back 2 weeks before the interviewHe-tome and Bu-gong: celebrate Halloween and Hanukkah and play with Dad’s

(former) IFJump Jump and Jump Jax: IFs that are 8 yr old brothersLucy: a rabbit but sometimes a baby, a mom, tiger, lion, or a mouseDowey and Sammey: IFs of 7 yr old, around since she was 3.The Holy Spirit: IF of 6 yr old, came at Christmastime.

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)

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)

Surprise!

Jeffette

What will your friend think is in the box?

Younger say: “rocks”Older children say: “crayons”

But God is different: “rocks”

So What about Invisible Friends?

What will Quack Quack think is in the crayon box?

Quack Quack

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

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

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

5-8 year olds

VF IF Dog God0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%Lim

its o

f Kno

wled

ge b

y ag

ent

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.

Results: Analysis by ToM Facility(Based on children who scored 3 for Visible Friend)

VF IF Dog God0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Limits

of

know

ledg

e by

age

nt

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

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

Conclusion

Is God just another IF?

With Taylor—No, God is different

With the Singers—Well…

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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