Preschoolers' use of communicative cues to guide inductive inference
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In constructing a conceptual understanding of the world, children must actively evaluate what information is idiosyncratic or superficial, and what represents generalizable, essential information about kinds and categories. In six experiments (N = 312), preschoolers observed identical evidence about a novel object's function produced in subtly different manners: accidentally, intentionally, or demonstrated communicatively and pedagogically. This subtle distinction had a powerful impact on children's inductive inferences. In Part One, this distinction influenced not only the strength of children's inferences about generalizability, but resulted in a fundamentally different conception of a novel kinds as defined not by superficial appearances but by deeper, functional properties. In Part Two, children showed surprising sophistication in navigating pedagogical interactions, judiciously identifying which specific actions in an ongoing interaction were meant as communicative demonstrations for their benefit. Taken together, these experiments illustrate a powerful learning mechanism for facilitating children's conceptual development.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2012 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Butler, Lucas Payne |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Psychology |
| Primary advisor | Markman, Ellen M |
| Thesis advisor | Markman, Ellen M |
| Thesis advisor | Clark, Herbert H |
| Thesis advisor | Frank, Michael C, (Professor of human biology) |
| Advisor | Clark, Herbert H |
| Advisor | Frank, Michael C, (Professor of human biology) |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Lucas Payne Butler. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Psychology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2012. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2012 by Lucas Payne Butler
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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