Approaching an Understanding of Omniscience from the Preschool Years to Early Adulthood

Autor/inn/en	Lane, Jonathan D.; Wellman, Henry M.; Evans, E. Margaret
Titel	Approaching an Understanding of Omniscience from the Preschool Years to Early Adulthood
Quelle	In: Developmental Psychology, 50 (2014) 10, S.2380-2392 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0012-1649
DOI	10.1037/a0037715
Schlagwörter	Preschool Children; Elementary School Students; Adults; Age Differences; Theory of Mind; Religious Factors; Cognitive Science; Thinking Skills; Sociocultural Patterns; Cognitive Development; Concept Formation; Michigan + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Kognitionswissenschaft; Denkfähigkeit; Soziokulturelle Theorie; Kognitive Entwicklung; Concept learning; Begriffsbildung
Abstract	Individuals in many cultures believe in omniscient (all-knowing) beings, but everyday representations of omniscience have rarely been studied. To understand the nature of such representations requires knowing how they develop. Two studies examined the breadth of knowledge (i.e., types of knowledge) and depth of knowledge (i.e., amount of knowledge within domains) that preschoolers, elementary-school children, and adults (N = 180) attributed to an all-knowing being. Preschoolers often reported that an omniscient mind would lack many types of knowledge, and they completely failed to understand the depth of omniscient knowledge. With increasing age, children approached an understanding of omniscience--attributing broader and deeper knowledge to an omniscient agent--but only adults firmly understood the depth of omniscient knowledge. We identify socio-cultural and cognitive factors that correlate with children's understandings of omniscience. Findings demonstrate that childhood representations of fallible, limited, human minds both make possible and constrain developing representations of radically non-human minds. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01