What do different beliefs tell us? An examination of factual, opinion-based, and religious beliefs

Abstract

Children and adults differentiate statements of religious belief from statements of fact and opinion, but the basis of that differentiation remains unclear. Across three experiments, adults and 8-10-year-old children heard statements of factual, opinion-based, and religious belief. Adults and children judged that statements of factual belief revealed more about the world, statements of opinion revealed more about individuals, and statements of religious belief provided information about both. Children—unlike adults—judged that statements of religious belief revealed more about the world than the believer. These results led to three conclusions. First, judgments concerning the relative amount of information statements of religious belief provide about individuals change across development, perhaps because adults have more experience with diversity. Second, recognizing that statements of religious belief provide information about both the world and the believer does not require protracted learning. Third, statements of religious belief are interpreted as amalgams of factual and opinion-based statements.

The perceived stability and biological basis of religious beliefs, factual beliefs, and opinions

“…Interestingly, the current findings differ from prior work comparing religious beliefs, factual beliefs, and opinions. In this prior work, children and adults distinguished among all three belief types when judging disagreements (Heiphetz et al, 2013;Heiphetz, Spelke, Harris, et al, 2014). The current findings indicate that such distinctions are limited to some domains (e.g., epistemology) and that individuals do not distinguish among these belief types along all dimensions.…”

“…Children are more likely to report that only one person can be right in a disagreement concerning religious beliefs than in a disagreement concerning opinions (Heiphetz et al, 2013). Children also judge that religious beliefs reveal more information about the world than do opinions, whereas opinions reveal more information about individuals than do religious beliefs (Heiphetz, Spelke, Harris, et al, 2014).…”

“…Second, we examined the extent to which individuals perceive factual beliefs, as well as religious beliefs and opinions, as rooted in biology and stable across time. Children distinguish religious beliefs from both of these other categories when judging how many people can be right in a disagreement (Heiphetz et al, 2013) and when indicating how much each type of belief reveals about the world versus the person holding the belief (Heiphetz, Spelke, Harris, et al, 2014 Children were recruited in a local school district; they completed the study in a quiet area and received a sticker. Their demographic information was recorded from questionnaires completed by their parents and returned to the school along with consent forms.…”

Non‐Scientific Criteria for Belief Sustain Counter‐Scientific Beliefs

“…Similarly, Kuhn, Zillmer, Crowell, and Zavala () found that social discussion on moral and philosophical dilemmas among adolescent peers could develop norms of argumentation, increasing the frequency of directive meta‐argumentation statements like “You need evidence for that claim” or “Tell us where you got that evidence.” They were also more likely to use evidence themselves than a control group from the same school who did not engage in such discussions (Kuhn & Moore, ). Related evidence shows that even young children are sensitive to differences between how different types of claims are discussed (Heiphetz, Spelke, Harris, & Banaji, ; Legare, Lane, & Evans, ; Woolley & Van Reet, ), suggesting that they may be attuned to the different ways in which these beliefs are justified as they are forming their own criteria for belief. In turn, this suggests that educational interventions could be successful at shaping how children evaluate different warrants for belief and how they learn to consider different sources of evidence ( cf .…”

Mapping the Social-Norms Literature: An Overview of Reviews

“…Similar concepts are connected to norms, even though they are not explicitly included in the work of those authors who specifically studied social norms dynamics. Because they are a critical component of the grammar of society (Bicchieri, 2006), social norms are closely interwoven with other important processes (as the three we mentioned) and social and psychological concepts, such as attitudes (one’s individual preference about something; Petty & Brinol, 2010), factual beliefs (one’s beliefs about how the physical world functions; Heiphetz, Spelke, Harris, & Banaji, 2014), or self-efficacy and group efficacy (one’s beliefs about one’s or one’s group’s capacity to achieve a given goal; Bandura, Freeman, & Lightsey, 1999). These various constructs contribute to creating a web of meanings that affects how people feel, think, and act.…”