Social and Moral Development Exam 3

What is the main idea of Kinzler’s lecture?

Linguistic diversity marks social groups and facilitates interpersonal communication

What are arbitrary social groups?

Groups formed based on minimal or random criteria

What are the big three social categories?

Gender race and age

What is a shibboleth?

A linguistic marker used to identify group membership

What does the shibboleth example illustrate?

Language can determine group membership and social consequences

What disciplines study language and social group membership?

Sociology psycholinguistics and anthropology

How does language function in social groups?

It divides and marks groups

What is underrepresented in experimental psychology research?

Language as a social category

When does language begin to influence social grouping?

Early in development

What are the three main points of the lecture?

Language divides the social world, language can matter more than race, linguistic diversity facilitates social communication

What language abilities do newborn infants show?

Preference for their native language

What speech distinction can newborns make?

Differences between languages with distinct rhythms

What do early social interaction studies show?

Infants prefer native language speakers

What do food choice studies at 12 months show?

Infants prefer food chosen by native speakers, not at first, but after the second attempt

What do friendship preference studies at age five show?

Children prefer native language and accent peers

Is language preference limited to friendship?

No it also affects learning and trust

From whom do children prefer to learn?

Native accented speakers

Do multilingual children prefer native speakers?

Yes even in multilingual contexts

What do accent attitude studies in the US show?

Native accents are associated with positive traits

Why is race used as a comparison?

Race is a well studied social category

How do infants respond to race compared to language?

Language preferences are stronger than race preferences

What did toy choice studies reveal?

Babies choose toys based on language not race

At age five which matters more language or race?

Language

What do identity over time studies examine?

How children track social identity

How do younger children categorize identity?

Based on language cues

How do older children categorize identity?

Based on race cues

What influences the development of social categorization?

Social context

How do adults categorize others?

Accent more than visual ethnic cues

Why is language especially important socially?

It provides early access to the social world

Why is accent an honest signal?

It is hard to change later in life

What does evolutionary psychology suggest about race?

Humans did not evolve to care about race

What may humans have evolved to care about?

Accent and language

What is the norm regarding linguistic diversity?

Multilingualism

What cognitive advantages are linked to bilingualism?

Executive control and cognitive flexibility

What social question does bilingualism raise?

Whether it improves communication

Which groups took part in the social communication task?

Monolingual, bilingual, and exposure children

What did the social communication task measure?

Understanding another person’s perspective

Which group performed best on the social communication task?

Bilingual and exposed children

Were performance differences due to SES or vocabulary?

No

Were executive control differences responsible?

No

What was studied in social communication during infancy?

Understanding speaker intention at 15 to 16 months

What advantage did bilingual infants show?

Better use of communicative cues

What does early multilingual exposure support?

Lifelong communication skills

What are open questions in this research?

Which aspects of environment matter and how communication changes over time

What is a key conclusion of the lecture?

Language is a powerful social category

How does culture shape language effects?

It influences social interpretation of language

Why is early linguistic diversity important?

It supports effective interpersonal communication

What policy issue is raised?

Language based bias lacks legal protection

What is the final takeaway?

Language based social bias is powerful and underrecognized

What are the two main learning goals of this lecture on religion?

To identify whether religion is an adaptation or a byproduct, and to describe the main ways children are socialized into religious belief and practice

How is religion defined for the purposes of this lecture?

A system of spiritual beliefs, practices, or both, typically organized around worship of an all-powerful deity and involving prayer, meditation, and collective rituals

Why is religion considered a ubiquitous part of human societies?

It is documented across cultures throughout history and practiced worldwide

What percentage of people worldwide say religion is important in their lives?

About 69% say religion is somewhat or very important in their lives

What percentage of people worldwide believe in God or a universal spirit?

Approximately 90%

Are children active participants in religion?

Yes, children actively participate in religion and hold personal religious beliefs

What global pattern is shown in the chart of majority religions by country?

Different regions around the world are dominated by different religious traditions

What do cross-national maps show about the importance of religion?

The importance of religion varies substantially across countries

What are the two major positions in the cognitive science of religion?

Religion as an adaptation vs. religion as a byproduct

What is the byproduct position on religion?

Religion emerges as a side effect of evolved cognitive systems rather than being directly selected for

Which cognitive systems contribute to religious belief under the byproduct view?

Hyperactive agency detection, theory of mind, and teleological thinking

What is hyperactive agency detection?

A tendency to perceive agents or intentional beings where none exist

What role does cultural learning play in religious belief according to the byproduct view?

A tendency to perceive agents or intentional beings where none exist

What is the adaptation position on religion?

Religion evolved because it provided survival and group-level benefits

What social benefits does religion provide under the adaptation view?

Promotes cooperation, strengthens group cohesion, supports moral norms, and increases group success in conflict

What are costly rituals, and why are they important?

Rituals that require effort or sacrifice and may signal commitment to the group

What is a key contrast between the adaptation and byproduct positions?

Adaptation views religion as selected for benefits, while byproduct views religion as riding on other cognitive systems

How early are children exposed to religion?

From birth, many children are exposed to religious beliefs and practices

What percentage of parents say teaching religious faith is especially important?

About 52% of parents

What is the key argument about religious cognition development?

It develops through cultural transmission of meaningful but unobservable concepts

Why is studying religious cognition in children important?

It reveals how cognition and culture shape each other across development

What are religious agents?

Gods, prophets, and angels

Why are religious agents cognitively interesting for children?

Children cannot see them, yet often believe in their existence

What questions do researchers ask about children’s understanding of religious agents?

Whether children believe they exist, how they think about their minds and bodies, and whether they use them to explain events

What did Davoodi et al. (2020) study?

How children justify belief in unobservable religious and scientific entities across cultures

Which groups were compared in Davoodi et al. (2020)?

Religious minorities (Christians in China) and majorities (Muslims in Iran, Christians in the U.S.)

What entities were considered religious in Davoodi et al. (2020)?

God, heaven, and angels

What entities were considered scientific in Davoodi et al. (2020)?

Germs, oxygen, and electricity

How did children justify belief in scientific unobservables?

Mostly using explanatory or fact-based justifications

How did minority-group children justify belief in religious unobservables?

More often using testimony (e.g., “my parents told me”)

What does minority status tell us about belief justification?

Children rely more on trusted sources when beliefs lack broad societal support

What coding categories were used to classify justifications?

Encounter, source, elaboration, and uninformative

What pattern appears when children hear conflicting ideas? T

They attend more to who said the information and use that to justify belief

How do children reason about scientific entities compared to religious ones?

They show greater consistency and explanatory reasoning for scientific entities

What questions are central to the nature of existence in religious cognition?

What existence means, where life comes from, and concepts like souls and the afterlife

What did Tenenbaum & Hohenstein (2016) study?

Parent–child explanations of the origins of humans, animals, and plants

How did 7-year-olds differ from 10-year-olds in origin beliefs?

7-year-olds favored creationism; 10-year-olds endorsed creationism and evolution equally

How are children’s beliefs linked to parents’ beliefs about origins?

Children’s explanations strongly align with their parents’ views

What do parent–child conversations reveal about learning?

They play a key role in shaping children’s scientific and religious understanding

What was a main result regarding parental endorsement of evolution?

Children with parents who endorse evolution show more balanced views

What does age reveal about creationist beliefs?

Younger children favor creationism more than older children

What is religious identity in childhood?

A sense of belonging to a religious group

At what age do children show religious ingroup bias?

Around 6–8 years old

Do children fully understand religious group membership at this age?

No, full understanding emerges closer to age 7 or 8

What is religious essentialism?

The belief that religion reflects deep, inherent qualities of a person

Where is religious essentialism strongest?

In contexts where religion is tied to sociopolitical conflict

How do parents influence religious essentialism?

Through essentialist language and encouraging avoidance of outgroups

How does exposure to diversity affect essentialism?

Greater exposure predicts lower essentialism and greater flexibility

What is the overall takeaway about religious cognition in children?

Children may be naturally inclined toward religious ideas, but culture shapes how those ideas develop

What were the findings of own gender brilliance score?

Boys and girls considered boys most briliiant from age 5 and onwards