Once in contact, always in contact: contagious essence and conceptions of purification in American and Hindu Indian children

Developmental Psychology
Ahalya HejmadiMichael Siegal

Abstract

Cultural and age differences in responses to contamination and conceptions of purification were examined in Hindu Indian (N = 125) and American (N = 106) 4- to 5-year-olds and 8-year-olds, who were provided with stories of juice contaminated by contact with a cockroach, a human hair, and a stranger (via sipping). Children who rejected the juice as being fit to drink were probed to determine whether their rejection was based on material essence (reduced by boiling), association (reduced by color change), or spiritual essence (reduced by sipping by the mother). A majority of 4- to 5-year-olds showed some form of contamination response, as did the great majority of 8-year-olds. Younger children's judgments were often based on spiritual essence or association, whereas material essence was more important for the older children, particularly Americans. However, for many children in both cultures, no purifiers were effective. In keeping with Hindu culture, the Indian children responded significantly more strongly to stranger or cockroach contamination and, with increasing age, viewed contamination as more impervious to any kind of purification.

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Citations

Dec 21, 2011·Journal of the American Academy of Religion·Thomas B Ellis
Nov 2, 2011·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Michael SiegalPaul G Overton
Nov 2, 2011·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Megan OatenTrevor I Case
Oct 1, 2011·Annual Review of Anthropology·Susan A Gelman, Cristine H Legare
Nov 4, 2015·Child Development·Susan A GelmanNicholaus S Noles
Feb 1, 2013·Cognitive Science·Meredith MeyerSarah M Stilwell
Dec 3, 2014·Cognition·Gil Diesendruck, Reut Perez
Aug 21, 2013·Public Understanding of Science·Benjamin D JeeJudy Diamond
Feb 9, 2018·Experimental Psychology·Lennea R BowerBrian E Rabinovitz
Dec 22, 2016·Cognitive Science·Arber Tasimi, Susan A Gelman
Sep 9, 2020·Journal of Experimental Child Psychology·Yuejiao LiZoe Liberman
Jan 8, 2019·Environmental Research·Olesya M SavchenkoKent D Messer
Jun 25, 2021·Child Psychiatry and Human Development·Rachel E Christensen, Michael Lewis
Sep 1, 2021·Child Development·Jasmine M DeJesusKatherine D Kinzler

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