1
|
Yang QT, Sleight S, Ronfard S, Harris PL. Young children's conceptualization of empirical disagreement. Cognition 2023; 241:105627. [PMID: 37793266 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2023] [Revised: 09/04/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
Chinese and American children aged 5-11 years (total N = 144) heard two child informants make conflicting empirical claims about each of 4 scenarios. For example, one informant claimed that a ball would float when dropped in water whereas the other informant claimed that it would sink. Children were asked to judge whether each informant could be right, and to justify their overall judgment. In both samples, there was a change with age. Older children often said that each informant could be right whereas younger children, especially in China, were more likely to say that only one informant could be right. Nevertheless, in the wake of decisive empirical evidence (e.g., the ball was shown to sink when dropped in water), almost all children, irrespective of age, drew appropriate conclusions about which of the two informants had been right. Thus, with increasing age, children differ in their prospective - but not in their retrospective - appraisal of empirical disagreement. Absent decisive evidence, older children are more likely than younger children to suspend judgment by acknowledging that either of two conflicting claims could be right. We argue that children's tendency to suspend judgment is linked to their developing awareness of empirical uncertainty, as expressed both in the justifications they give when judging the disagreement and in their own beliefs about the scenarios. Implications for children's understanding of disagreement are discussed.
Collapse
|
2
|
Waddington O, Proft M, Jensen K, Köymen B. Five-year-old children value reasons in apologies for belief-based accidents. Child Dev 2023; 94:e143-e153. [PMID: 36692288 PMCID: PMC10952182 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Accidents can be intent-based (unintended action-unintended outcome) or belief-based (intended action-unintended outcome). As compared to intent-based accidents, giving reasons is more crucial for belief-based accidents because the transgressor appears to have intentionally transgressed. In Study 1, UK-based preschoolers who were native English speakers (N = 96, 53 girls, collected 2020-2021) witnessed two intent-based or belief-based accidents; one transgressor apologized, the other apologized with a reason. Five-year-olds, but not 4-year-olds, favored the reason-giving transgressor following a belief-based accident but not an intent-based accident (where an apology sufficed). In Study 2, 5-year-olds (N = 48, 25 girls, collected 2021) distinguished between "good" and "bad" reasons for the harm caused. Thus, 5-year-old children recognize when reasons should accompany apologies and account for the quality of these reasons.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Owen Waddington
- Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, School of Health SciencesUniversity of ManchesterManchesterUK
| | - Marina Proft
- Georg‐Elias‐Müller‐Institute for PsychologyGeorg‐August‐University GöttingenGöttingenGermany
| | - Keith Jensen
- Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, School of Health SciencesUniversity of ManchesterManchesterUK
| | - Bahar Köymen
- Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, School of Health SciencesUniversity of ManchesterManchesterUK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Özkan FE, Hartwell K, Köymen B. A cross-linguistic approach to children's reasoning: Turkish- and English-speaking children's use of metatalk. Dev Sci 2023:e13374. [PMID: 36719106 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13374] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2022] [Revised: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
When collaboratively solving problems, children discuss information reliability, for example, whether claims are based on direct or indirect observation, termed as "metatalk". Unlike English in which evidential marking is optional, languages with obligatory evidential marking such as Turkish, might provide children some advantages in communicating the reliability of their claims. The current preregistered online study investigated Turkish- and English-speaking 3- and 5-year-old children's (N = 144) use of metatalk. The child and the experimenter (E) were asked to decide in which of the two houses a toy was hiding. One house had the toy's footprints. When E left the Zoom meeting, an informant told the child that the toy was in the other house without the footprints in three within-subjects conditions. In the direct-observation condition, the child witnessed the informant move the toy. In the indirect-witness condition, the informant checked both houses and said that the toy was in the other house. In the indirect-hearsay condition, the informant simply said that the toy was in the other house. When E returned, the child had to convince E about how they knew the toy was in the other house using metatalk (e.g., "I saw it move"). Turkish-speaking children used metatalk more often than did English-speaking children, especially in the direct-observation condition. In the two indirect conditions, both groups of 5-year-olds were similar in their use of metatalk, but Turkish speaking 3-year-olds produced metatalk more often than did English-speaking 3-year-olds. Thus, languages with obligatory evidential marking might facilitate children's collaborative reasoning. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Children as young as 3 years of age can produce metatalk. Turkish-speaking children produce metatalk more often than English-speaking children. The difference between the two linguistic groups is more pronounced at age 3.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- F Ece Özkan
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Kirstie Hartwell
- Division of Psychology, Communication, & Human Neuroscience, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Bahar Köymen
- Division of Psychology, Communication, & Human Neuroscience, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Langenhoff AF, Engelmann JM, Srinivasan M. Children's developing ability to adjust their beliefs reasonably in light of disagreement. Child Dev 2023; 94:44-59. [PMID: 35924791 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Two preregistered experiments (N = 218) investigated children's developing ability to respond reasonably to disagreement. U.S. children aged 4-9, and adults (50% female, mostly white) formed an initial belief, and were confronted with the belief of a disagreeing other, whose evidence was weaker, stronger than, or equal to participants' evidence. With age, participants were increasingly likely to maintain their initial belief when their own evidence was stronger, adopt the other's belief when their evidence was weaker, and suspend judgment when both had equally strong evidence. Interestingly, 4- to 6-year-olds only suspended judgment reliably when this was assessed via the search for additional information (Experiment 2). Together, our experiments suggest that the ability to respond reasonably to disagreement develops over the preschool years.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Antonia F Langenhoff
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Jan M Engelmann
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Mahesh Srinivasan
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Hartwell K, Brandt S, Boundy L, Barton G, Köymen B. Preschool children's use of meta-talk to make rational collaborative decisions. Child Dev 2022; 93:1061-1071. [PMID: 35318651 PMCID: PMC9541187 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
In collaborative decision-making, partners compare reasons behind conflicting proposals through meta-talk. We investigated UK-based preschoolers' (mixed socioeconomic status) use of meta-talk (Data collection: 2018-2020). In Study 1, 5- and 7-year-old peer dyads (N = 128, 61 girls) heard conflicting claims about an animal from two informants. One prefaced her claim with "I know"; the other with "I think". Dyads identified the more reliable informant through meta-talk ("She said she knows"). In Study 2, 3- and 5-year-olds (N = 64, 34 girls) searched for a toy with an adult partner making incorrect proposals. Children refuted this through reporting what they had witnessed (It cannot be there because "I saw it move", "she moved it"). In preschool period, children start using meta-talk to make rational collaborative decisions.
Collapse
|
6
|
The study of rational framing effects needs developmental psychology. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e243. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22000930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Experimental research is reviewed which suggests that rational framing effects influence young children's social activities according to a logic of interdependence. However, young children are unlikely to possess some of the elaborate cognitive skills argued in the Target Article to be prerequisite for rational framing effects. Understanding rational framing effects requires understanding their ontogenetic origins.
Collapse
|
7
|
Rakoczy H, Miosga N, Schultze T. Young children evaluate and follow others’ arguments when forming and revising beliefs. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/sode.12533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hannes Rakoczy
- Department of Developmental Psychology University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany
| | - Nadja Miosga
- Department of Developmental Psychology University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany
| | - Thomas Schultze
- Department of Developmental Psychology University of Göttingen Göttingen Germany
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Mahr JB, Mascaro O, Mercier H, Csibra G. The effect of disagreement on children's source memory performance. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0249958. [PMID: 33836015 PMCID: PMC8034710 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 03/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Source representations play a role both in the formation of individual beliefs as well as in the social transmission of such beliefs. Both of these functions suggest that source information should be particularly useful in the context of interpersonal disagreement. Three experiments with an identical design (one original study and two replications) with 3- to 4-year-old-children (N = 100) assessed whether children's source memory performance would improve in the face of disagreement and whether such an effect interacts with different types of sources (first- vs. second-hand). In a 2 x 2 repeated-measures design, children found out about the contents of a container either by looking inside or being told (IV1). Then they were questioned about the contents of the container by an interlocutor puppet who either agreed or disagreed with their answer (IV2). We measured children's source memory performance in response to a free recall question (DV1) followed by a forced-choice question (DV2). Four-year-olds (but not three-year-olds) performed better in response to the free recall source memory question (but not the forced-choice question) when their interlocutor had disagreed with them compared to when it had agreed with them. Children were also better at recalling 'having been told' than 'having seen'. These results demonstrate that by four years of age, source memory capacities are sensitive to the communicative context of assertions and serve social functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Johannes B. Mahr
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
| | - Olivier Mascaro
- Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS & Université de Paris, Paris, France
| | - Hugo Mercier
- Département d’études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, Institut Jean Nicod, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Gergely Csibra
- Cognitive Development Center, Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Collaborative reasoning in the context of group competition. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0246589. [PMID: 33544768 PMCID: PMC7864449 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
A key skill in collaborative problem-solving is to communicate and evaluate reasons for proposals to arrive at the decision benefiting all group members. Although it is well-documented that collaborative contexts facilitate young children's reasoning, less is known about whether competition with other groups contributes to children's collaborative reasoning. We investigated whether between-group competition facilitates children's within-group collaborative reasoning, regarding their production of reasons and their use of transacts, communicative acts that operate on one another's proposals and reasoning. We presented 5- and 7-year-old peer dyads with two collaborative problem-solving tasks (decorating a zoo and a dollhouse). In one task, children competed against another group (the competitive condition); whereas in the other task, they did not (non-competitive condition). Our results suggest that children's sensitivity to group competition as reflected in their reasoning changed depending on the task. When they decorated a house, they produced more transacts in the competitive condition than in the non-competitive condition; whereas when they decorated a zoo, this pattern was reversed. Thus, our results highlight that group competition did not influence children's collaborative reasoning consistently across different contexts.
Collapse
|
10
|
Mammen M, Köymen B, Tomasello M. Young children’s moral judgments depend on the social relationship between agents. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
|
11
|
Sorsana C. How to Testify to the Emergence of an Idea in Conversation: Methodological Avenues for Exploring Children’s Interviews. Hum Dev 2020. [DOI: 10.1159/000512774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
In line with socioconstructivist works analysing the impact of social interactions on cognitive development, the present study discusses how to capture, describe, and analyse the emergent co-production of new ideas or creative cognitive solutions. After introducing the methodologies that are currently used in this field, we recall the relevance of pragmatic analyses of conversations. We then identify several possible methodologies for probing and finely analysing the emergence of children’s new thinking, by cross-referencing third-person (i.e., from the researcher’s point of view) and first-person (i.e., from the children’s point of view, following an explicitation interview) analyses.
Collapse
|
12
|
|
13
|
Young children spontaneously recreate core properties of language in a new modality. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:26072-26077. [PMID: 31792169 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1904871116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
How the world's 6,000+ natural languages have arisen is mostly unknown. Yet, new sign languages have emerged recently among deaf people brought together in a community, offering insights into the dynamics of language evolution. However, documenting the emergence of these languages has mostly consisted of studying the end product; the process by which ad hoc signs are transformed into a structured communication system has not been directly observed. Here we show how young children create new communication systems that exhibit core features of natural languages in less than 30 min. In a controlled setting, we blocked the possibility of using spoken language. In order to communicate novel messages, including abstract concepts, dyads of children spontaneously created novel gestural signs. Over usage, these signs became increasingly arbitrary and conventionalized. When confronted with the need to communicate more complex meanings, children began to grammatically structure their gestures. Together with previous work, these results suggest that children have the basic skills necessary, not only to acquire a natural language, but also to spontaneously create a new one. The speed with which children create these structured systems has profound implications for theorizing about language evolution, a process which is generally thought to span across many generations, if not millennia.
Collapse
|
14
|
Köymen B, O'Madagain C, Domberg A, Tomasello M. Young Children's Ability to Produce Valid and Relevant Counter-Arguments. Child Dev 2019; 91:685-693. [PMID: 31729752 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In collaborative problem solving, children produce and evaluate arguments for proposals. We investigated whether 3- and 5-year-olds (N = 192) can produce and evaluate arguments against those arguments (i.e., counter-arguments). In Study 1, each child within a peer dyad was privately given a reason to prefer one over another solution to a task. One child, however, was given further information that would refute the reasoning of their partner. Five-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, identified and produced valid and relevant counter-arguments. In Study 2, 3-year-olds were given discourse training (discourse that contrasted valid and invalid counter-arguments) and then given the same problem-solving tasks. After training, 3-year-olds could also identify and produce valid and relevant counter-arguments. Thus, participating in discourse about reasons facilitates children's counter-argumentation.
Collapse
|
15
|
Domberg A, Köymen B, Tomasello M. Children choose to reason with partners who submit to reason. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2019.100824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
|