Superpowers, God, Omniscience, and Afterlife

Abstract

Theory of mind not only begins and develops robustly in early childhood, but also continues beyond that into older childhood and adulthood. A good window on these later developments is children’s emerging understandings of possible extraordinary mental abilities: children’s understanding of, and wrestling with, concepts like God, superheroes, Hell, and omniscience. Superheroes provide a next step beyond preschool as children’s theory of mind moves beyond thinking about the ordinary to wrestle with the extraordinary. Interest in God often begins with partial understanding and also first springs from children’s interest in strength and power. From these beginnings, children reach for the concepts of God, omniscience, the afterlife, and the soul. This journey tells an anthropomorphism story: Children begin by understanding the limited and fallible minds of ordinary people. From this base they move toward an ever-expanding grasp of extraordinary minds.