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The Coexistence of Natural and Supernatural Explanations Across Cultures and Development
Open accessAbstract
Although often conceptualized in contradictory terms, the common assumption that natural and supernatural explanations are incompatible is psychologically inaccurate. Instead, there is considerable evidence that the same individuals use both natural and supernatural explanations to interpret the very same events and that there are multiple ways in which both kinds of explanations coexist in individual minds. Converging developmental research from diverse cultural contexts in 3 areas of biological thought (i.e., the origin of species, illness, and death) is reviewed to support this claim. Contrary to traditional accounts of cognitive development, new evidence indicates that supernatural explanations often increase rather than decrease with age and supports the proposal that reasoning about supernatural phenomena is an integral and enduring aspect of human cognition.
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“in many domains of everyday life people appeal to both natural and supernatural explanations, often integrating both types of explanation.”
From The Challenge of Evolution to Religion (2019) · cites this paper as Legare et al. (2012)
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“As Legare et al. (2012) observe, there are three domains that consistently generate both natural and supernatural explanations: illness, death, and (human) origins.”
From The Challenge of Evolution to Religion (2019) · cites this paper as Legare et al. (2012)
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Metadata
- Authors
- Legare, C. H., Evans, E. M., Rosengren, K. S., & Harris, P. L.
- Affiliations
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Northwestern University (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Legare, Cristine H
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2012-05-01
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 779-793
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- OpenAlex
- W1576580351
- Cited by
- 332
- References
- 108
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 3.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/I005455/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Evolution and Science Education
- Keywords
- supernatural explanations, dual-process theory, cognitive development, cross-cultural comparison, origin of species, illness beliefs, death beliefs, religious cognition
- MeSH terms
- Attitude to Death, Attitude to Health, Child, Child Development, Concept Formation, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Biological Evolution, Humans, Knowledge
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