The researchers also conducted their own study involving 366 participants in South Africa who were asked whether witchcraft or biology was responsible for a number of people contracting AIDS. The researchers found that more than 57 percent combined both witchcraft and biological explanations while just 26 percent said that it could have been due to either witchcraft or biology alone.
"The findings show that supernatural explanations for topics of core concern to humans are pervasive across cultures. If anything, in both industrialised and developing countries, supernatural explanations are frequently endorsed more often among adults than younger children", Legare said. The study has been published in the journal Child Development.
Source: Medindia