Religious+Beliefs+and+Development

=__ **Religious Beliefs and Development ** __=



**__Understanding Religious Beliefs__**
 friars, and nuns: to enter religion  a. The practice of sacred ritual observances  b. Sacred rites and ceremonies. [C12: via Old French from Latin religiō fear of the supernatural, piety,  probably from religāre to tie up, from re- + ligāre to bind]
 * Religion as defined by the English dictionary (World English Dictionary): **
 * 1. **Belief in, worship of, or obedience to a supernatural power or powers considered to be divine or to have control of human destiny
 * 2. ** Any formal or institutionalized expression of such belief: the Christian religion
 * 3. ** The attitude and feeling of one who believes in a transcendent controlling power or powers
 * 4. ** chiefly RC Church the way of life determined by the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience entered upon by monks,
 *  5. ** Something of overwhelming importance to a person: football is his religion
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 6. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> //archaic;//


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Worlds Main Religions 1-10 based on population: **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 1. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Christianity: 2.1 billion
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 2. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Islam: 1.5 billion
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist: 1.1 billion
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 4. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Hinduism: 900 million
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 5. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Chinese traditional religion: 394 million
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 6. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Buddhism: 376 million
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 7. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> primal-indigenous: 300 million
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 8. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> African Traditional & Diasporic: 100 million
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 9. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Sikhism: 23 million
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 10. **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Juche: 19 million

__When and Why Children Start Believing in Organized Religion__
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Children from ages four to six have been told religious and non-religious stories from either peers or family. A fundamental stage of development that occurs around age five or six is the ability to distinguish reality from the imagination. At first the child will most likely not believe the story or care to even think about it, but will find the stories entertaining. After age six the child will start making decision on what is real and what is not based on what their family or peers say is true. If a child of age six is told that a religious belief is real and the stories in the religious text are real., then the children will most likely believe it as well. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> With regard to distinguishing real versus imaginative, or fictional, events, Samuels and Taylor (1994) found that five year old children were able to distinguish fantastical storybook pictures from realistic pictures, but children also report belief in fantastical figures such as the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus well into the early elementary school years (Blair, McKee, & Jernigan, 1980; Prentice & Gordon, 1986; Principe & Smith, 2008).

__Life with religion__

 * Religion and Marriage
 * o Sociological studies done by Christopher Ellison at the University of Texas at Austin show that an increased value in religion, practice and acknowledgment of a divine figure in marriage produced couples more likely to work together and experience more perceived benefits from marriage. Research prior to this found marriage to last thirty years longer than couples who didn’t acknowledge any Deity.
 * o Studies performed by David Larson at the Duke University Medical School showed that couples that attended church services were 2.4 times less likely to divorce.
 * o A study by Brad Wilcox at the University of Virginia concluded that marriage also improves in quality when religious practices come into play. Wilcox’s study showed that women reported being more satisfied with their husband’s affection if they attended to or acknowledged some sort of Deity.
 * o Studies have concluded that couples who share the same denomination and Faith had more successful marriages overall. Couples who practiced and belonged to different Religions, however, showed a greater amount of arguments and disagreements.
 * Religion and Family Relations
 * o Religious affiliation and practice has proven to create authoritative and expressive parents. Religious parents tend to have greater emotional relationships with their children and foster the same values as their child. Religious differences, however, can prove to cause a strain on the relationship between parent and child.
 * o Studies by Bard Wilcox illustrate that father’s who practices a religion have more involvement with their children than those who do not, showing more affection, paraise and one on one involvement with their child.
 * o Men who frequently attended religious services were shown in recent psychological studies by Wilcox to be 50% less likely to commit and act of violence against their partner.
 * Religion and Sexual Behavior
 * o Participating in religious practices, overall, showed a huge decrease in the rate of non-marital sex.
 * o Data found by the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health found that an increase in religiosity by one unit reduced sexual activity in girls by 16% and in boys by 12%.
 * o Other studies show that one of the most common factors in teens abstaining from sex were religious views, coming in second only to fear.
 * o Individuals who are religious and do participate in sexual behavior, however, were reputed to use less contraception and therefore do not protect from pregnancy or infection.
 * Religion and Mental Health
 * o A review of mental health research found that 81% of the 99 studies reviewed showed "some positive association…between religious involvement and greater happiness, life satisfaction, morale, positive affect, or some other measure of well-being."
 * Religion and Development
 * o According to Paul Bloom in his article “Religion is Natural”, religion is a taboo that most developmental psychologists steer away from. Religion, however, is universal and developed throughout life and can therefore be studied in the same way as any other developmental aspect of psychology. Religion and beliefs that a child may develop are determined by the culture in which they are raised, not by genes of the environment. But are children born with the innate instinct to believe? Bloom suggests that the belief in a soul and that consciousness as separation from the body are, in fact, not learned at all.
 * § Bering and Bjorkland did a study involving the death of a mouse to solidify this belief. They told young children about a mouse that had died and proceeded to ask the children about different qualities of the dead mouse. Overall, the children seemed to understand the effects of death, and when asked would observe that the mouse would no longer breathe, eat and that the brain would stop working. Children, however, continued to believe that the mouse would go on having thoughts and desires. While the body of the mouse was dead to the children, the soul was very much alive.
 * Due to research in body-soul dualism and hyper-sensitivity, Paul Bloom concludes that it is natural to believe in a god and practice religion. Some religious beliefs, Bloom states, are obviously learned throughout childhood, but the ability to believe in a soul and afterlife are with us at birth.

If the effects are positive, why are people leaving organized religion?

> > > >.
 * According to Barro and Mitchell, this is due to economic growth. Religion provides a source of coping for individuals when circumstances become difficult and out of their control. In economically developed nations, however, people can meet their basic needs and maintain a positive well-being, decreasing their need for a “coping method.” The table below, presented in the article “The Religion Paradox” by Diener, Tay and Myers, shows that the least religious nations are economically stable and dependent, while those high in religious activity suffer from economic despair and social destruction.

__Adolescents and Religion__
What sort of effects does religion have on the developing adolescent? Once again, findings seem to illustrate that religious beliefs are helpful rather than hurtful to development. Adolescents raised in religious households are less likely to be depressed and partake in risky behavior such as partying, premarital sex, and other impulsive decisions. "[S]everal studies (e.g., Pullen, Modrcin-Talbott, West, & Muenchen, 1999; Williams & Wallace, 1997) observed that for young people who engage in frequent religious activity, the number and frequency of health-compromising behaviors decreased." There is a positive correlation between the influence religion can have and adolescents behavior. "Many religious traditions encourage the use of private religious practices to improve the ability to avoid daily temptations and increase behaviors sanctioned as moral, promoting character formation by enhancing self-discipline and behavioral self-control." These are all things that religion can offer to adolescents, that are not usually present at this time of development. While parents hope that they are teaching their child self-control and discipline, it may not become so ingrained in the head as it would if the lessons were coming from authority figures, in addition to their parents and peers. When religion is taught to a child, it is very likely that he or she will grow up to still believe (or at least passively agree with) what they had been taught. In this day and age, it wold be difficult to get an adolescent to convert to any sort of organized religion that would restrict their freedom in any way.

__Religion in Schools__

 * 1963 Abington Township Vs. Schempp:
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> "It might well be said that one's education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization."
 * Two groups circulating pitching their "Bible as History" and "Bible as Literature" programs to school boards.
 * Main concern is that educators will not be able to teach the subject in an evenhanded manner.
 * Some schools have prohibited their students from handing out any sort of religious symbols in the school system. But how far is too far?
 * goody bags confiscated from a student at a winter party for having the message "Jesus is the Reason for the Season."
 * Students prevented from writing "Merry Christmas" on cards to senior citizens.
 * Students prohibited from selling tickets to a Christmas drama.
 * Threatened expulsion of a student who tried to hand out "Jesus Loves Me" pencils.
 * 2005 Act defined when religious materials could be in schools, including 30 minutes before and after school, during 3 specific holiday parties and only during the school day if they were exchanged passively.

__Development and Religion: Paul Bloom's Take__

 * There is not an adequate amount of research done on the development of the child and religion. Why? Possibly because religion is a controversial topic, or perhaps it is because it is not a major concern to developmental psychologists.
 * Paul Bloom states that people don't find religion interesting enough to study. But religion, according to Bloom, is both interesting and an integral part of our culture.
 * Developmental psychologists should be interested in religion and its role in development because it deals with processes and beliefs not evident within the senses, like object permanence. Studying religion and how it affects development may give us insight to other aspects of the brain of which we have little knowledge.
 * Some of the same theories applied to the study of language, object perception and theory of mind are being applied to religious development studies.
 * Religion and language: both universal, both developed throughout life and not present at birth, are determined by culture (not genes or environment).

All children have basic forms of religious beliefs regardless of culture or environment:

1. Common Sense Dualism: We, as people, separate our body and souls as two distinct beings. It is possible to have one (body) without the other (soul). For example, when you see a chair you see the body, but do not assume it to have a soul. Religion further intensifies the belief in the soul. Christianity and Judaism both believe in a single God that is all powerful, but does not have a body, only exists as a soul. Religions also have different perceptions of what happens to the soul after the body dies. Dualism comes innately to children: when asked, children will say their brain and body is responsible for doing math, but is not necessarily responsible for loving his or her brother or pretending to be a kangaroo. h (e.g. Gottfried, Gelman & Schultz, 1999; Johnson, 1990; Lillard, 1996). 2. Over attribution of agency and design: Psychological research by Heider and Simmel in 1944 using shapes and objects show that people will give human characteristics to any object. Our mind also has trouble breaking down something so complex as the universe and fathoming how it was created. Although we may understand quantum physics and Darwinism, it may never feel right to us. The mind has a hard time thinking of something being "designed" without a "designer." Children see a world with design and purpose; a child believes the rocks are pointy so that the animals could scratch themselves. A bias towards creationism is, therefore, natural.
 * § Bering and Bjorkland did a study involving the death of a mouse to solidify this belief. They told young children about a mouse that had died and proceeded to ask the children about different qualities of the dead mouth. Overall, the children seemed to understand the effects of death, and when ask would observe that the mouse would no longer breathe, eat and that the brain would stop working. Children, however, continued to believe that the mouse would go on having thoughts and desires. While the body of the mouse was dead to the children, the soul was very much alive.

**__Summary__**

Our research has brought us to the conclusion that religiosity will almost always have a positive outcome in a child’s development, even though religion is sometimes looked down on by our increasingly secular society. When a child is raised in a religious home, parents are usually more understanding, more involved, and more likely to pass on a good sense of morals to the child. Religious parents are less likely to fight and less likely to get divorced, giving the child a stress free environment to grow up in. As children grow into adolescents, religious beliefs influence them to mind their parents, avoid engaging in risky sexual behavior, and to foster healthy relationships with their peers. Although we tend to think of religion as a social construct pushed onto developing minds, there is plenty of research arguing that we have an innate spirituality. This can be seen in the way young children deal with the concept of death and why things are the way they are. Studies have shown that children want to believe that their surroundings were created for a reason and were part of a plan. Religion is a very controversial topic to research, especially when it comes to the development of children, but it could be an important next step in psychological research, since it gives some insight into how the human brain functions when confronted with a complex world.

Edited by: Aaron C. Malaney Carolyn mader Grace Herzog

====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Bloom, P. (2007). Religion is natural. // Developmental Science //, // 10 // (Jan), 147-151. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.csc-proxy.libraries.vsc.edu/ehost /detail?vid=3&hid=110&sid=dfc53e66-6243-4042-aceb-4b036a7ba078@sessionmgr112&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybCx1aWQmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU= ====

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Carpenter, T. P., Laney, T., & Mezulis, A. (2011, May 16). Religious Coping, Stress, and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents: A Prospective Study. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0023155

====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;"> Derthick, Martha, and Joshua Dunn. "Thou Shalt not say Jesus: do elementary school students have free-speech rights?" // Education Next // 11.3 (2011): 9. // Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context //. Web. 19 Dec. 2011. ====

====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Diener, E., Tay, L., & Myers, D. (2011). The religion paradox: If religion makes people happy, why are so many dropping out? . // Journal of Personality and Social Psychology //, // 101 // (Dec), 1278-1290. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.csc-proxy.libraries.vsc.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=110&sid=e5c91585-04cf-473a-b4de-ec8da33b3073@sessionmgr111&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVybCx1aWQmc2l0ZT1laG9zdC1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU= ====

====<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Fagan, P. (2006). Why religion matters even more: The impact of religious practice on social stability. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2006/12/why-religion-matters-even-more-the-impact-of-religious-practice-on-social-stability ==== <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">McNamara, P., Burns, J. P., Johnson, P., & McCorkle, B. H. (2010). Personal religious practice, risky behavior, and implementation intentions among adolescents. //Psychology Of Religion And Spirituality//, //2//(1), 30-34. doi:10.1037/a0017582