IS GOD JUST A BIG PERSON?: THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS BACKGROUND ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF GOD CONCEPTS by

Developmental theories suggest that children initially conceptualize God in concrete, anthropomorphic terms. In contrast, recent research has found that from early on, children recognize God as a being radically different from humans. Previous research has been limited to studies of Christian children. The present study questioned children and adults raised in a religious tradition (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) emphasizing God’s anthropomorphic qualities and a comparison group of traditional Christian children and adults, concerning abilities of God and dad. The results indicate that children distinguish between God and dad in terms of supernatural ability and that regardless of religious background, children acquire God concepts in a piece-meal fashion, not automatically inferring one supernatural attribute given another. In addition, theological differences in God concepts between the two religious traditions emerge late in development.