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DISSERTATIONS - 2008
A jungian study about God’s Image in children in christian tradition
Ana Maria Galrão Rios
Advisor: Ceres Araújo
Key-words: Child development, God’s image, drawing, Jungian psychology.
Abstract: The aim of this work is to study the representation of God’s image in children, using the Jungian Psychology as theoretical reference. The image of God is understood as a symbol of the Self and studied in regard to its cognitive and affective development in children. The research was conducted with a sample of 150 children enrolled in the public school system in São Paulo, and each gender was represented in half of the sample. The children were divided by age in three groups: 1) students in 1st grade aged 6-7 years; 2) students in 5th grade about 10 years of age; 3) students in 9th grade about 14 years of age. Children’s graphic representations and spontaneous comments about God were used as data. The children were asked to make two drawings: God as such and God “doing something”. The method was quantitative and qualitative, and analysis categories were established. The results were analyzed in the light of the constructive method of C.G.Jung, utilizing symbolic amplification. The conclusion was that the variable sex did not interfere with how God was represented in any of the ages measured. The variable age was found to interfere with representations of God because God’s image significantly increases in size, centralizes in the paper and changes its attributes as the children grow. In regard to God’s activities, younger children tend to portray God playing, however, God’s main activity is portrayed as to protect human beings and the world. Other activities are: to create, organize and suffer. God was not represented, in any measured age, as inflicting punishment
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