Summary: In 2021, we received a small research grant from INSBS to conduct a pilot study on children’s cognitive understanding of death as the cessation of agency. In part 1 of the project, we began fieldsite development in Tana Toraja in Indonesia and assessed the feasibility of future research on similar concepts.
We request additional funding in 2022 to launch an expanded project on the role of scientific and religious experiences, scientific knowledge, and supernatural beliefs on multiple cognitive dimensions of death concepts (cessation and irreversibility). Part 2 of the project will take place in Tana Toraja with the addition of a surrounding rural area, Sa’dan, in Northern Toraja, providing direct comparisons of diverse sub-populations within the same location. We will be the first research team to conduct mixed-methods research with children and adults in these areas.
This continuing interdisciplinary project addresses the following four areas of research as identified in INSBS:
- The social scientific study of the relationship between science and religious belief.
- Public perceptions of the relationship between science, religion and non-religion and their respective roles in society.
- International comparative perspectives on the study of science, religion and belief in society.
- Past and present media, or popular representations of science, religion and belief in society.
The aim of this project is to capture a realistic view of how religious beliefs and scientific experiences impact cognitive dimensions of children’s death concepts.
In Western cultures, science and religion are often presented as conflicting. Hence, there is limited evidence that scientific and religious beliefs coexist in children’s minds. However, some research in non-Western contexts, along with our pilot data, indicate that natural and supernatural understandings of death do coexist in minds across contexts.
Informed by our pilot study in part 1, we propose a culturally sensitive mixed-methods study, including (a) documenting the content of science education and media on biological principles of life, (b) performing semi-structured interviews with parents, and (c) conducting vignettes with children (+7).
Our pilot study in Tana Toraja highlighted a stark contrast between coexistence reasoning about death and modern Western death concepts (practices, afterlife beliefs, and values). Data from Sa’dan will highlight this contrast further, as there is even less exposure to Western religions, science educational models, and death rituals. Furthermore, providing a holistic view of religious beliefs, scientific experience, and exposure to death has implications for public policy in educational and clinical settings.
