title: Children's thinking about diversity of belief in the early school years: judgments of relativism, tolerance, and disagreeing persons.
abstract: Children's thinking about diversity of belief in 4 realms--morality, taste, facts, and ambiguous facts--was examined. Ninety-six participants (ages 5, 7, and 9) were interviewed about beliefs different from their own that were endorsed by characters with different status; their judgments of relativism, tolerance, and disagreeing persons were assessed. Five-year-olds made fewer relative and tolerant judgments than 7- and 9-year-olds. Nevertheless, participants of all ages organized their judgments according to the realm of diversity, thought that some beliefs are relative and some are nonrelative, and made tolerant judgments of some divergent beliefs (and their proponents) but not of others. The findings suggest that, in the early school years, children have multiple and well-differentiated perspectives on belief diversity.
authors.affiliation: Department of PSychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 84112, USA. cecilia.wainryb@psych.utah.edu
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wainryb
authors.forename: Leigh A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Marcie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Langley
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cottam
authors.forename: Renee
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003469:Culture; D028781:Ethical Relativism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception