Developing concepts of ordinary and extraordinary communication.
We examine how understandings of ordinary and extraordinary communication develop. Three- to 10-year-old children and adults (N = 183) were given scenarios in which a protagonist wanted help from a human (their parent) or from God. Scenarios varied in whether protagonists expressed their desires aloud (by asking) or silently (by hoping), whether (for human scenarios) parents were nearby or far away, and whether (for God scenarios) protagonists expressed desires through ordinary means (asking or hoping) or more extraordinary means (praying). Following each scenario, participants were asked whether the recipient (either the parent or God) was aware of the protagonist's desire. Children as young as 3 to 4 years old understood that both loudness and distance limit the effectiveness of human communication, reporting that humans would most likely be aware of desires when they were expressed both aloud and nearby. As well, by this age children reported that God would more often be aware of desires than would humans, but children of all ages often reported that God (like humans) would be more aware of desires expressed aloud (rather than silently). These concepts of ordinary and extraordinary communication continued to be refined through middle childhood. Children's performance on standard theory-of-mind tasks and participants' religious background predicted whether they attributed awareness to God. (PsycINFO Database Record
Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University.
Jonathan D
JD
Lane
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
E Margaret
EM
Evans
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
Kimberly A
KA
Brink
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
Henry M
HM
Wellman
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003142:Communication; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012067:Religion; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind; D055815:Young Adult