Folding Your Hands Helps God Hear You: Prayer and Anthropomorphism in Parents and Children

Previous research has indicated that the physical actions of prayer are especially salient for preschool-aged children, and children in this age range tend to associate prayer with communicating with God. As the context in which children learn about new concepts impacts on how children come to understand those concepts, and children are often introduced to the concept of God through prayer, the current study examined if the views of parents and preschoolers about the function of actions (e.g., bowing head, closing eyes) involved in prayer are related to, and provide the basis for, children’s developing conception of God. Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim parent-child dyads were interviewed (N = 246). Results indicated parents and children primarily think the actions of prayer function as helping the individual praying to think about God. However, parents who endorsed the possibility that prayer actions served a ritualistic, communicative function had children with more anthropomorphic views of God. These findings are discussed in terms of the implications for the ways in which prayer serves as a context of religious concept development.