YOUNG CHILDRENS ABILITY TO IDENTIFY THE SOURCES OF THEIR BELIEFS

Young children's ability to understand which experiences led to a belief was investigated in 3 studies. Three-, 4-, and 5-year-olds learned about the contents of a toy "tunnel" in three different ways: They saw the contents, were told about them, or felt them. Immediately after each trial, children were asked to state what was in the tunnel and also how they knew about the contents of the tunnel. Three-year-olds had difficulty identifying the sources of their knowledge, while 4- and 5-year-olds did not. Experiment 2 determined that the 3-year-olds' performance was not due to an inability to distinguish between the 3 modes of seeing, telling, and feeling. Experiment 3 compared source questions that did and did not involve inference, and used an even simpler questioning format. Three-year-olds continued to have difficulty identifying all the types of sources, although inference proved to be especially difficult.