Running head : ADULTS ’ UNDERSTANDING OF EXTRAORDINARY

In two studies undergraduates' understanding of extraordinary capabilities was investigated using religious and secular contexts. Six stories assessed participants’ endorsement of anthropomorphic language to describe attention, physical power, perception, and presence of three agents: God, a human, and Qwore, an agent with the same powers as God. Participants attributed human-like limitations to God’s capabilities, and participants anthropomorphized attention and presence more than perception or physical power. Certain religious practices were associated with decreased use of anthropomorphic concepts, such as belief in God’s existence and frequency of reading religious materials. These results indicate that God is treated differently from other agents, some supernatural capacities may be easier to understand than others, and some religious practices may change one’s concept of supernatural abilities.