Young children use motive information to make trait inferences

被引:85
作者
Heyman, GD [1 ]
Gelman, SA [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Michigan, Dept Psychol, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA
关键词
D O I
10.1037/0012-1649.34.2.310
中图分类号
B844 [发展心理学(人类心理学)];
学科分类号
040202 ;
摘要
The present study investigates children's capacity to understand traits in a psychologically meaningful way. Participants included 18 individuals in each of 4 age groups: kindergarten (ages 5-6), 2nd grade (ages 7-8), 5th grade (ages 10-11), and adult. They heard a series of 6 short stories in which a main character performs an action based on a particular motive (positive, negative, or incidental) that results in either a positive or a negative emotional consequence for another character. Participants evaluated each main character and predicted the character's behavior and mental states in different social contexts. Participants in all age groups, even the 5- to 6-year-olds, made trait inferences that were influenced by motive information. These results provide evidence that young children are capable of more sophisticated reasoning about traits than has been suggested previously.
引用
收藏
页码:310 / 321
页数:12
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