Storytelling and development of the concept of god in iarnian and lebanese children

Subject Areas : روان درمانگری

Parirokh  Dadsetan ¹ (PhD Islamic Azad University)
Omaime  M. Aligh ² (Psychology PhD)
Kazem  R. Tabatabaee ³ (PhD Tarbiat Modares University)
Masoud  Azarbaijani ⁴ (PhD Research Center of the Seminary and University)
Maryam  Bayat ⁵ (Educational Assistant Payame Noor University)

Received: 2015-06-04 Accepted : 2015-06-04 Published : 2010-06-22

Keywords: Storytelling, concept of God, Lebanese and Iranian children, cross cultural study,

Abstract :

This research explored the effects of storytelling on the development of the concept of God in Iranian and Lebanese children. 238 (138 Iranian and 100 Lebanese) girls and 222 (107 Iranian and 115 Lebanese) boys 6-11 years old were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. The experimental group received eight sessions of forty-five minute storytelling. The control group received none. Before and after all sessions of storytelling, clinical interview (Lawrence, 1965) was conducted to measure the concept of God. Analysis of covariance showed that storytelling had a positive effect on the development of concept of God and all its components. There were no gender and cultural differences in the total score of the concept of God; but Iranian children scored higher on the components of “existence of God” and “omniscience”. The Lebanese children scored higher in the “invisibility” component. Boys described God as more omnipotent than girls did. In the post test, boys in experimental group scored higher on the “nature of God” component than the girls and control group.