RELIGION AND THE BRAIN

Religion and the Brain Gabrielle L. Shelton Northeastern State University

RELIGION AND THE BRAIN Abstract When considering Piagets models of development, does a child learn religious concepts in the concrete operations stage or in the formal operations stage? Depending on the environment, it could be either, so when dealing with the religious views of others, one has to consider whether the other knows religion as an abstract concept or a fact. Keywords: brain development, environmental development, religion

RELIGION AND THE BRAIN Religion and the Brain When a child is developing, at what point does the child understand religion? According to Piagets models of development, a child begins to complete mental tasks in the concrete operational stage at seven to eleven years of age (Lilienfeld, Lynn, Namy, Woolf, 2011, p. 372375). Around adolescence a child can begin to think abstractly and understand hypothetical reasoning (Lilienfeld et al. 2011, p. 372-375). So which does religion fall under: hypothetical reasoning or concrete operations? Depending on their environment, this question could determine the future of a childs religious views. Discussion Often, parents who are religious teach their children that their religion is the truth and give their child very few ideas to explore about religion outside of their own. This may lead the child to believing it as a fact and not a hypothetical scenario. In the case of this happening, a child may begin to understand their religion in the concrete operations stage, and this is where people may develop widely varying ideas about religion. If a child begins to understand their

religion as the only truth during concrete operations stage of development, they may be unable to think of their religion as an abstract concept during the formal operations stage, unlike a child who was raised in a more open environment, where all religions may be a possibility and there is no one truth. In the scenario that a child was raised in an environment open to all religious views and there not being one correct way to think, a child may discover religion slightly later than the child whose parents may have taught them to believe one particular religion as the only truth, but they will also learn religion as an abstract concept, varying widely from the child who believes his/her religion is a fact. This may be one way people develop such varying ideas about religion,

RELIGION AND THE BRAIN which is why one has to consider whether or not the other knows religion as an abstract concept or a fact.

RELIGION AND THE BRAIN References Lilienfeld, Scott. O., Lynn, Steven. Jay., Namy, Laura. L. Woolf, Nancy. J. (2011). Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding. Boston, MA: Pearson.