Young Children's Understanding of Intention

Three studies were done to determine when children begin to understand people's intentions as mental-representational states (Searle's prior intentions) and as instantiated in purposive, goal-directed behaviors (Searle's intentions-in-action) that are distinguishable both from the people's desires or preferences and from the outcomes of the actions their intentions engender. Three- and four-year-olds were presented with stories in which the story characters' intentions differed both from their desires or preferences and from the outcomes of their efforts to carry out their intentions. The 3-year-olds, especially the younger ones, showed little ability to distinguish intentions from desires and outcomes. In contrast, most of the 4-year-olds were able to make these distinctions consistently. These and other recent differential studies suggest that children begin to develop a differentiated conception of intention at around 3 1/2 or 4 years of age.     

Young Children's Understanding of the Conditions for Knowledge Acquisition

We report 3 studies directed to children's understanding of how evidence leads to knowledge. The studies as a whole span a range of ages (4-, 6-, and 8-year-olds), a variety of sources of information (perception, communication, and inference), and a number of targets or recipients of the information (adult, child, baby, and self). Perception proved to be the easiest source to understand, and inference was the most difficult. There was no difference in the accuracy of judgments for the self and judgments for others. Judgments were least accurate for the baby, primarily because children tended to overestimate babies' ability to acquire knowledge from communication or inference. Although performance in general improved with age, the tendency to overestimate the baby was greatest among the oldest children. The results are discussed in terms of children's understanding of 2 contributors to knowledge formation: situational (the nature and adequacy of the informational source) and individual (the cognitive readiness of the recipient of the information).     

早期儿童关于图画与其所指物间关系的理解--利用两可图进行的考察

先前的研究表明,在3岁或更早儿童的观念中,二维图画与其所指物之间的关系是严格的一一对应的。本实验采用两可图对这一推断进行了检验,结果进一步证实了这一推断。实验还表明,儿童对二维图画的多重解释能力并不意味着一般意义上的心理理论的获得。数据显示,总体而言儿童对两可图的多重解释能力的形成时间稍早于完成错误信念任务能力的形成时间,但是尚不能确定两者之问是否有承继关系。     

幼儿对于图画作者情绪状态与其作品间关系的认知

采用将作者情绪状态与图画作品相匹配的方法,分别以线条、颜色和内容为线索,考察了3.5~5.5岁儿童对图画作者情绪状态与其作品间关系的认知发展。结果表明:3.5岁儿童尚不能将作者情绪状态与图画特点联系起来,4.5岁儿童开始能够将作者情绪状态与图画特点联系起来,5.5岁儿童的水平在此基础上又有明显的发展。儿童对作者情绪状态与图画间关系的把握显示出一定的性别差异,但对图画传递的情绪信息的认知在各要素形式(颜色、线条、内容)之间差异不明显。     

计算机与早期儿童发展

20世纪 80年代 ,当计算机刚刚开始引入小学低年级和幼儿园时 ,有关计算机与儿童发展之间关系的问题就引起了人们激烈的争论。Ｈａｕｇｌａｎｄ(1997)指出 ,“在过去的 12年(1985 - 1997)中 ,人们一直在激烈地争论着幼儿园和小学低年级教室中的计算机对儿童发展有哪些潜在的危害和益处。”但是 ,随着信息技术在教育中的广泛运用 ,计算机进入幼儿园和小学已经成为一种势不可挡的潮流。这种情况下 ,关于年幼儿童使用计算机的“利弊之争”有所减弱 ,研究者关注的焦点开始向如何扬长避短、合理有效地利用计算机于早期教育方面转移。尽管如此 ,全…     

早期儿童的游戏与心理理论的发展

选择在一日活动中儿童可自由支配的游戏时间存在明显差异的两所幼儿园,采用错误信念任务比较两园小班、中班儿童心理理论的发展状况,结果显示,半年在园经验的小班儿童在完成错误信念任务上存在显著差异,表明早期儿童的游戏,尤其是装扮游戏对儿童心理理论的发展有积极作用;但一年半在园经验的中班儿童在完成错误信念任务上不存在显著差异,由此推论儿童心理理论的发展受成熟的制约,成熟起主导作用。研究为理解幼儿园以游戏为基本活动提供了参考依据。     

Preschool Children's Understanding of Conflicting Desires

This study examines the conditions under which 3-year-olds can use the desires of others to predict others' behavior. In Study 1, children were highly successful in predicting the actions of an agent based on that agent's desires when they were explicitly told about the agent's desires, even when the agent's desires were strongly different from the children's own. Study 2 showed that 3-year-olds could also predict the actions of an agent when they had to infer the agent's desires from the previous good and bad experiences of the agent and from information about the agent's general behavioral preferences. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that children had difficulty predicting an agent's behavior when they both had to infer the desire of the agent and this desire conflicted with their own desires. These results suggest that preschoolers' desire reasoning is sophisticated but also may be influenced by the processing demands of the task.     

小学儿童集体主义意识研究

文化心理学家早就确认,东西方文化间重要的结构差异,是个体主义和集体主义的对照。根据Triandis的观点,集体主义指一种由紧密联系的个体所构成的社会模式,这些人以集体为导向,对集体义不容辞,集体(家庭和社会团体)目标优先于个人目标。从历史、政治、文化和宗教看,中国文化总体上是集体主义社会(Bond,1986)。     

The Role of Consciousness in Grasping and Understanding

One sometimes believes a proposition without grasping it. For example, a complete achromat might believe that ripe tomatoes are red without grasping this proposition. My aim in this paper is to shed light on the difference between merely believing a proposition and grasping it. I focus on two possible theories of grasping: the inferential theory, which explains grasping in terms of inferential role, and the phenomenal theory, which explains grasping in terms of phenomenal consciousness. I argue that the phenomenal theory is more plausible than the inferential theory.     

Young Children's Conception of the Biological World

ABSTRACT— What are the components of children's biological-knowledge system before systematic teaching at school? Can this knowledge system be called naive biology? We propose that young children's biological-knowledge system has at least two essential components—(a) the knowledge needed to identify biological entities and phenomena and (b) teleological and vitalistic causality—and that these components constitute a form of biology. We discuss how this naive biology serves as the basis for performance and learning in socially and culturally important practices, such as health practices and biology instruction.     

Flexibility and Originality in Children's Divergent Thinking

Previous research on the ideational process indicates that original ideas increase in frequency as an examinee works through an open-ended task. In the present investigation, ideational flexibility was evaluated to determine if ideas also become more varied and diverse. Additionally, the relationship of intelligence (IQ) with order effects of both originality and flexibility was investigated. Tests of verbal and figural divergent thinking were administered to 80 intermediate school children. The midpoint of each individual's ideational set was found, and the flexibility and originality scores of each half of the set were compared. Results indicated that flexibility and originality scores were higher in the second half than the first half of the ideational set, but there were significant differences between high- and low-originality subjects and differences between the verbal and the figural tests. The order effect was unrelated to the IQ scores of the subjects. Suggestions are made to integrate ideational flexibility into existing theories of divergent ideation.     

5～6岁儿童对书面数符号的表征和理解能力的发展

本研究对54名大班儿童的书面数符号表征和理解能力进行了跟踪调查。一年中三次面试结果表明,约85%的儿童(M=5:10)能运用书面数符号来表征30个以上的物体的数量。至大班末,94%的儿童(M=6:4)能运用书面数符号来表征100个以上物体的数量。大班末儿童对20以内书面加法运算成绩好于20以上书面减法运算,他们在遇到需进位和借数的加减运算时会有困难。6岁儿童在对加减运算式表征中的符号-实物的转换上有困难,儿童书面数符号表征、书面加减运算及对书面加减运算式的表征之间有显著正相关。大学附属幼儿园儿童的书面数符号表征能力在大班上学期好于为一般居民服务的幼儿园儿童,但无显著差异;在大班末期,为一般居民服务的幼儿园儿童的得分反超大学附属幼儿园儿童的得分,但无显著差异。     

Possession Episodes in Young Children's Social Interactions

This naturalistic study examined the relationships between possession episodes and other social behaviors. Twenty children were observed in 240 social interactions that occurred during free play in their preschool classroom. The interactions were analyzed for behaviors related to possession, affiliation, prosociability, and aggression. The findings suggest that possession episodes are positively associated with agonistic behaviors and negatively related to positive social responses both situationally and dispositionally. First, disputes following possession claims frequently resulted in the termination or disruption of the social interaction. Moreover, a comparison between children's behaviors in interactions that contained a possession episode and in those that did not revealed that more aggression and fewer prosocial and affiliative behaviors occurred in the possession interactions. Second, in an analysis of individual social patterns, children who frequently engaged in possession disputes engaged in more aggressive actions and fewer affiliative ones than did their less possession-oriented classmates.     

Flexible Strategy Use in Young Children's Tic-Tac-Toe

In domains with multiple competing goals, people face a basic challenge: How to make their strategy use flexible enough to deal with shifting circumstances without losing track of their overall objectives. This article examines how young children meet this challenge in one such domain, tic-tac-toe. Experiment 1 provides an overviews of development in the area; it indicates that children's tic-tac-toe strategies are rule based and that new rules are added one at a time. Experiment 2 demonstrates that even young children flexibly tailor their strategy use to meet shifting circumstances. Experiment 3 indicates that these adaptations are accomplished through a process of goal-based resource allocation, whereby children focus their cognitive resources on applying rules most consistent with their current primary goal. A computer simulation specifies how this process works and demonstrates its sufficiency for producing behavior much like that of the children. The findings are discussed as part of a broader framework of mechanisms for generating problem-solving approaches.     

4～5岁儿童对书面数符号的表征和理解能力的发展

本研究对61名中班儿童的书面数符号表征和理解能力进行了跟踪调查。一年中三次个别面试的结果表明,约40％的4岁儿童已能运用1—10的书面数符号表征数量。至中班末期,大多数5岁儿童能够较熟练地运用至少1一17的书面数符号来表征数量,尽管其中有人在两位数的表征和数字的正确写法上有困难。儿童的书面数符号表征与他们的基数概念发展水平密切相关。大学附属幼儿园4—5岁儿童的书面数符号表征能力好于为工人家庭服务的幼儿园儿童的能力。     

意图明确条件下小学儿童对说谎的理解与道德评价

本研究对 7、9和 1 1岁儿童进行了说谎概念的理解与道德评价的研究。研究的目的是想揭示小学儿童在说话者意图明显的条件下对说谎的理解和道德评价中的认知特点。结果发现 ,“事实”因素是影响儿童理解“说谎”的决定因素 ;对说谎 /说真话的道德评价则不同于理解 ,至少到 9岁时 ,儿童的评价依据已由“事实”因素开始转向考虑说话者内在心理过程的“交往目的”因素 ,“情景”因素对道德评价也有一定的作用。     

学习不良儿童的策略信念与理解水平

使用结构访谈法对120名儿童(其中学习不良儿童60名)的策略信念与策略理解水平进行了研究。结果显示:学习不良儿童组与一般儿童组的差异更多体现在对具体策略的元认知因果解释水平上,他们更多持有较低水平的“信息获得”解释,而对照组儿童则更多持有较高水平的“信息加工”解释,提示对策略理解水平的差异可能是导致学习不良儿童难以将新学到的策略主动应用到其它情景中去的一个重要原因。     

Aspects of Young Children's Perceptions of Gender-Typed Occupations

Perceived competencies of men and women in gender-typed occupations, perceptions about how much money men and women earn in gender-typed occupations, and affective reactions regarding growing up to have gender-typed occupations were examined in 55 primarily White middle-class preschoolers and primary school children. Children (particularly boys) viewed men as more competent than women in masculine occupations, and rated women as more competent than men in feminine occupations. Children believed men earned more than women across occupations, but that men earned more money than women in masculine occupations, and women earned more money than men in feminine occupations. Children's affective reactions to growing up to have gender-role-consistent occupations were more positive than their reactions to having gender-role-inconsistent occupations. Results suggest children perceive differential competencies of men and women regarding gender-typed occupations, and differences in pay for men and women within gender-typed occupations, at ages younger than previously determined.