The natural emergence of reasoning about the afterlife as a developmental regularity. Export

@article{citeulike:4453722, abstract = {Participants were interviewed about the biological and psychological functioning of a dead agent. In Experiment 1, even 4- to 6-year-olds stated that biological processes ceased at death, although this trend was more apparent among 6- to 8-year-olds. In Experiment 2, 4- to 12-year-olds were asked about psychological functioning. The youngest children were equally likely to state that both cognitive and psychobiological states continued at death, whereas the oldest children were more likely to state that cognitive states continued. In Experiment 3, children and adults were asked about an array of psychological states. With the exception of preschoolers, who did not differentiate most of the psychological states, older children and adults were likely to attribute epistemic, emotional, and desire states to dead agents. These findings suggest that developmental mechanisms underlie intuitive accounts of dead agents' minds.}, author = {Bering, J. M. and Bjorklund, D. F.}, citeulike-article-id = {4453722}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.217}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14979762}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=14979762}, doi = {10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.217}, issn = {0012-1649}, journal = {Developmental psychology}, keywords = {child, development, mental\_model, naive\_theories, religion, theory\_of\_mind, theory\_theory}, month = {March}, number = {2}, pages = {217--233}, posted-at = {2009-05-03 07:25:08}, priority = {3}, title = {The natural emergence of reasoning about the afterlife as a developmental regularity.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.217}, volume = {40}, year = {2004} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:4453722 L3 - citeulike-article-id:4453722 N2 - Participants were interviewed about the biological and psychological functioning of a dead agent. In Experiment 1, even 4- to 6-year-olds stated that biological processes ceased at death, although this trend was more apparent among 6- to 8-year-olds. In Experiment 2, 4- to 12-year-olds were asked about psychological functioning. The youngest children were equally likely to state that both cognitive and psychobiological states continued at death, whereas the oldest children were more likely to state that cognitive states continued. In Experiment 3, children and adults were asked about an array of psychological states. With the exception of preschoolers, who did not differentiate most of the psychological states, older children and adults were likely to attribute epistemic, emotional, and desire states to dead agents. These findings suggest that developmental mechanisms underlie intuitive accounts of dead agents' minds. IS - 2 JF - Developmental psychology SN - 0012-1649 EP - 233 TI - The natural emergence of reasoning about the afterlife as a developmental regularity. VL - 40 SP - 217 KW - child KW - development KW - mental_model KW - naive_theories KW - religion KW - theory_of_mind KW - theory_theory AU - Bering, JM AU - Bjorklund, DF PY - 2004/03// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.217 ER -