Preschoolers\' Inference of the Insides of Objects According to Age, Task Domain and Task Condition
AUTHOR : 김진욱,이순형
INFORMATION : page. 1~21 / 2007 Vol.14 No.4
ABSTRACT
This study intends to investigate whether preschoolers can infer the insides of some objects and such inference develops in a domain-specific way. Subjects were thirty-two 3-year-olds(18 boys 14 girls; mean age 3.6; range 3.1-3.11), thirty-two 4-year-olds(17 boys 15 girls; mean age 4.6; range 4.1-4.11) and thirty-two 5-year-olds(18 boys, 14 girls; mean age 5.6; range 5.1-5.11), recruited from one day-care center in Seoul. All participants was asked to identify the insides of objects whose domain is clear but specific concrete knowledge is lacking. Major findings were as follows. 1. With age increasing, the rate of right inference rose significantly, and by age 4, preschoolers seem to have general expectations of insides that animal, plants, and machines may have. 2. There is no significant difference in preschoolers\' inference of the insides of objects according to task domain. Preschoolers\' inference of the insides of objects seems to develop in a domain-general way. 3. There is a significant difference in preschoolers\' inference of the insides of objects according to task condition. The rate of right inference is higher in pictorial task than in verbal task condition. The results of this study demonstrate that preschooler can successfully infer the insides of objects they have never seen before, knowing that each is an animal, plant, or machine. This result suggests that preschooler hold abstract and general expectations about the insides of objects in whole domain.