The role of within-category variability in the development of induction

从发育早期开始，孩子们就使用分类来了解他们周围的世界。例如，在了解个体的某些信息（例如，蜘蛛咬人）后，孩子们可以将这些信息推广到整个类别（例如，所有蜘蛛），并使用这些信息来指导行为（例如，避免蜘蛛）。在这种推理形式的基础上，一个关键的——而且往往是有用的——假设是相信一个类别的成员彼此高度相似。然而，这种假设也会使孩子误入歧途。例如，如果孩子们认为所有的狗都是友好的，因为他们自己的可卡犬是友好的，如果他们遇到一只恶毒的狗，他们可能会采取危险的行为。因此，有效的归纳必须在类别成员彼此相似的信念与类别也包括重要的可变性的认识之间取得平衡。这些研究考察了这些信念之间的平衡如何促进童年学习的发展变化。这些研究检验了以下假设：(a)年龄较小的儿童（学龄前）倾向于忽视类别内变异性，导致他们过度概括新信息；(b)随着年龄的增长，儿童认识到更多的类别内变异性，从而导致更有效的归纳学习；(c)引导年幼的儿童认识到类别内变异性的重要性，有助于他们更有效地学习。本研究旨在揭示导致儿童或多或少有效地概括信息的认知发展过程。这样一来，这项研究对教育有三个直接的影响。首先，这些研究旨在确定一种策略-类别内变化的指导-可以引导儿童更准确和有效地概括信息，这可以在一系列教育环境中实施。其次，这些研究说明了有助于儿童理解科学方法的一个关键组成部分的发展因素——在得出一个广泛的结论之前，从不同的来源获得聚合的证据是很重要的——因此对如何有效地教授科学方法具有启示意义。第三，由于对可变性的推理是对进化概念理解的核心，这项工作将研究一个重要的发展因素，这个因素应该在科学课程的设计中得到解决。这些研究阐述了人类获取新知识的机制如何在发展过程中发生变化的关键理论问题，因此对认知和发展心理学具有广泛的理论意义。这项研究还支持为学生提供广泛的培训机会，为家庭和教育工作者提供教育机会。

From early in development, children use categories to learn about the world around them. For example, upon learning something about an individual (e.g., that a spider bites), children can generalize this information to the category as a whole (e.g., all spiders), and use this information to guide behavior (e.g., to avoid spiders). A critical--and often useful--assumption that underlies this form of reasoning is the belief that members of a category are highly similar to each other. Yet, this assumption can also lead children astray. For example, if children assume that all dogs are friendly because their own cocker spaniel is friendly, they may engage in dangerous behavior if they encounter a vicious dog. Effective induction thus must balance the belief that category members are similar to each other with the recognition that categories also include important variability. These studies examine how the balance between these beliefs contributes to developmental changes in learning across childhood. These studies test the hypotheses that (a) younger children (preschool-age) tend to overlook within-category variability, leading them to over-generalize new information, (b) children recognize more within-category variability as they get older, leading to more efficient inductive learning, and (c) guiding younger children to recognize the importance of within-category variability helps them to learn more efficiently.This research aims to uncover the cognitive developmental processes that lead children to generalize information more or less effectively. In doing so, this research has three immediate implications for education. First, these studies aim to identify a strategy--instruction on within-category variation--that can lead children to generalize information more accurately and efficiently, which could be implemented in a range of educational contexts. Second, these studies illustrate the developmental factors that contribute to children's understanding of a key component of the scientific method--that it is important to obtain converging evidence from diverse sources before drawing a broad conclusion--and thus have implications for how to teach about the scientific method effectively. Third, because reasoning about variability is central to a conceptual understanding of evolution, this work will examine an important developmental factor that should be addressed in the design of science curricula. These studies speak to the key theoretical question of how the mechanisms by which humans acquire new knowledge change across development, and thus have broad theoretical significance for cognitive and developmental psychology. This research also supports extensive training opportunities for students and educational opportunities for families and educators.