"Who Can Help Me Fix This Toy?" The Distinction Between Causal Knowledge and Word Knowledge Guides Preschoolers' Selective Requests for Information
"Who Can Help Me Fix This Toy?" The Distinction Between Causal Knowledge and Word Knowledge Guides Preschoolers' Selective Requests for Information
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DOI：
10.1037/a0031649
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发表时间：
2013-03-01
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Schneider, Lauren A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kushnir, Tamar;Vredenburgh, Christopher;Schneider, Lauren A.
学龄前儿童使用动作的结果来推断物体的因果属性。我们问他们是否也用它们来推断他人的因果能力和知识。在实验一中，学龄前儿童看到了两个告密者、两个工具和两个坏玩具。一名告密者(贴标签者)知道工具的名称，但他的行动未能激活玩具。另一个(修理工)不知道工具的名字，但他的行动成功地激活了玩具。四岁的孩子(在较小程度上，还有三岁的孩子)有选择地将新标签的请求引导给贴标签员，并将修理新坏玩具的请求指示给修补者。在第二个实验中，4岁的孩子也认可修理工(而不是非修理工)对机械故障的因果解释。然而，他们没有向修复者询问新单词(实验1和实验2)或人工产物功能(实验1)。因此，学龄前儿童将被证明的因果能力作为专门的因果知识的标志，这表明这是发展关于因果专业知识的想法的基础。
Preschoolers use outcomes of actions to infer causal properties of objects. We asked whether they also use them to infer others' causal abilities and knowledge. In Experiment 1, preschoolers saw 2 informants, 2 tools, and 2 broken toys. One informant (the labeler) knew the names of the tools, but his actions failed to activate the toys. The other (the fixer) was ignorant about the names of the tools, but his actions succeeded in activating the toys. Four-year-olds (and to a lesser extent, 3-year-olds) selectively directed requests for new labels to the labeler and directed requests to fix new broken toys to the fixer. In a second experiment, 4-year-olds also endorsed a fixer's (over a nonfixer's) causal explanations for mechanical failures. They did not, however, ask the fixer about new words (Experiments 1 and 2) or artifact functions (Experiment 1). Thus, preschoolers take demonstrated causal ability as a sign of specialized causal knowledge, which suggests a basis for developing ideas about causal expertise.