Running head: CHILDREN'S ATTRIBUTIONS OF BELIEFS



Children's Attributions 4

Children’s attributions of beliefs to humans and god: cross-cultural evidence

1. Introduction

Humans routinely attribute intentions, beliefs, and desires in order to interpret the
behavior of others. Other humans are seen as agents, that is, as entities that pursue goals in
accordance with their beliefs and desires. Attributions of agency are so ubiquitous that they are
typically taken for granted in everyday life. These attributions are not always correct in
identifying the beliefs and desires that underlie a specific action of an agent; yet, if people did
not see others as agents, the capacity to understand their behavior would be severely impaired
(for example, people would be surprised when others got up and moved).

Abundant research documents children’s acquisition of human agent concepts over the
first several years of life (Astington, Harris, & Olson, 1988; Perner, 1993; Wellman, 1990), but
there is little work available on the development of non-human agent concepts. Yet, people often
attribute intentions, beliefs, and desires to animals as well as to ghosts, gods, demons, and
monsters. Scholars have long assumed that children first acquire concepts of human agency and
then use them as templates to understand all nonhuman agents. One exception in this regard is
found in the work of Barrett and collaborators (Barrett, Richert, & Driesenga, 2001; Richert &
Barrett, 2003; see also Atran, 2002, for an evolutionary account of why children cognize
nonhuman agency).

In this article, we offer further support for Barrett’s point of view, showing that Yukatek
children do not reason in the same way about the agency of humans and God since early on in
development
. In the first part, we discuss the development of human agent concepts, specifically



More intriguing information

1. The name is absent
2. The name is absent
3. Inflation and Inflation Uncertainty in the Euro Area
4. The name is absent
5. Julkinen T&K-rahoitus ja sen vaikutus yrityksiin - Analyysi metalli- ja elektroniikkateollisuudesta
6. SOME ISSUES IN LAND TENURE, OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL IN DISPERSED VS. CONCENTRATED AGRICULTURE
7. Qualification-Mismatch and Long-Term Unemployment in a Growth-Matching Model
8. The Economic Value of Basin Protection to Improve the Quality and Reliability of Potable Water Supply: Some Evidence from Ecuador
9. TOWARDS THE ZERO ACCIDENT GOAL: ASSISTING THE FIRST OFFICER MONITOR AND CHALLENGE CAPTAIN ERRORS
10. Corporate Taxation and Multinational Activity
11. The name is absent
12. The name is absent
13. The Mathematical Components of Engineering
14. The Shepherd Sinfonia
15. Discourse Patterns in First Language Use at Hcme and Second Language Learning at School: an Ethnographic Approach
16. Macro-regional evaluation of the Structural Funds using the HERMIN modelling framework
17. The name is absent
18. Literary criticism as such can perhaps be called the art of rereading.
19. WP 48 - Population ageing in the Netherlands: Demographic and financial arguments for a balanced approach
20. The name is absent