CHILDRENS UNDERSTANDING OF THE ECONOMIC WORLD
CHILDRENS UNDERSTANDING OF THE ECONOMIC WORLD
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DOI：
10.1177/000494418603000302
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发表时间：
1986-11-01
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
FURNHAM, A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
FURNHAM, A
认知发展心理学很大程度上关注儿童和青少年对物理现象(即空间、质量、时间)的理解。关于他们对经济现象(即利润、利息、通货膨胀等)的理解的研究相对较少。有许多充分的理由说明，经济社会化和教育是一个重要的话题，但却被忽视了。事实上，与调查儿童对与大多数儿童几乎无关的物理规则的理解相比，绘制儿童对经济问题的理解图表可能会提供关于他们思维过程的更现实的信息。首先，成人的消费、储蓄、投资等习惯可能是在童年或青春期就养成的。其次，从教学的角度来看，人们可能会问：向儿童和青少年教授经济概念是否合理？答案似乎是肯定的，理由是他们的知识不是很广泛(Ingels&O‘Brien，1985；Leiser，1983)；他们的购买力相当强(Davis&Taylor，1979；Furnham&Thomas，1984 b)，而且越来越多的证据表明，在年轻时进行培训是可能的，也是有效的。关键问题仍然是孩子们的经济学知识。是否存在年龄、经历、性别、阶级差异；哪些概念是早期习得的，哪些是后来习得的；经济概念的发展是否存在可界定的渐进阶段；资本主义社会的儿童是否被社会化为特定的经济概念？本文将首先回顾有关经济概念发展的文献，考虑主要经济概念的发展是否存在明显的可具体化的阶段。第二，审查将考虑具体概念研究中出现的过程和条件。将考虑对年轻人关于金钱、交换、经济分配和所有权的观念的研究，尽管这方面的研究相对较少。这篇综述将试图汇集关于儿童和青少年对经济现象的知识和态度的各种但有限的文献。几乎所有这些研究都与儿童对概念的理解有关，很少涉及他们的实际行为。
Much of cognitive developmental psychology has been concerned with children's and adolescents' understanding of physical phenomena (ie space, mass, time). Comparatively few studies have been done on their understanding of economic phenomena (ie profit, interest, inflation etc). There are a number of good reasons why the topic of economic socialization and education is an important if neglected topic. Indeed charting children's understanding of economic issues might provide more realistic information about their thought processes than investigating their understanding of physical rules that have little relevance to most children. First it may be that adult habits of spending, saving, investing etc. are established in childhood or adolescence. Secondly, from a teaching perspective, one may ask: Is it reasonable to teach economic concepts to children and adolescents? The answer appears to be yes on the grounds that their knowledge is not extensive (Ingels & O'Brien, 1985; Leiser, 1983); their buying power is considerable (Davis & Taylor, 1979; Furnham & Thomas, 1984b) and there is accumulating evidence that training at a young age is both possible and effective. The critical questions remain about children's knowledge of economics. Are there age, experience, gender, class differences; what concepts are acquired early and which later on; are there definable progressive stages of economic concept development; have children in capitalist societies been socialized into particular economic concepts?This paper will first review the literature on the development of economic concepts, considering whether there are clear specifiable stages in the development of major economic concepts. Secondly the review will consider what processes and conditions appear in studies of specific concepts. Studies on young people's ideas about money, exchange, and economic distribution and ownership will be considered, though there is comparatively limited research in the area. This review will attempt to bring together the diverse but limited literature on children's and adolescents' knowledge of and attitudes towards economic phenomena. Nearly all of this research has been concerned with children's understanding of concepts and very little with their actual behaviour.