Will I know more in the future than I know now?” Preschoolers’ judgments about changes in general knowledge
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9786540 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cristina M Atance (0000-0001-7667-8836, University of Ottawa, corresponding author), Julian S Caza (0000-0002-7263-2694, University of Ottawa) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 857-865 |
| Publication date | 2018-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Developmental Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0012-1649 • E-ISSN: 1939-0599 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/dev0000480 |
| PMID | 29239635 |
| OpenAlex | W2771896671 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 7 |
An important aspect of perspective-taking ability is the appreciation that mental states such as beliefs, desires, and knowledge change over time. The current study focused specifically on 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds' understanding that they will have knowledge in the future that they do not currently possess-for example, that when they are grown-ups, they will know what the words on a newspaper say. We also compared this understanding to children's understanding that adults have knowledge that children do not. To address the possibility that children's correct responses stemmed from a general rule that "adults know everything," we also included questions to which adults could not know the answer. Results show that children's understanding that they will have knowledge in the future that they do not currently possess and that adults possess knowledge that children do not improves substantially during the preschool years. Moreover, only the 5-year-olds in our study acknowledged that certain things are "unknowable," even by adults. Finally, children's performance did not differ as a function of whether they were asked about their own future knowledge or an adult's current knowledge. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for theories of perspective-taking and mental state reasoning, future thinking, and children's motivation to learn. (PsycINFO Database Record
Cognition · Cognitive development · Developmental psychology · Function (biology · General knowledge · Knowledge level · Mathematics education · MEDLINE · Need to know · Perspective (graphical · PsycINFO · Theory of mind · Child and Animal Learning Development · Early Childhood Education and Development · Educational Strategies and Epistemologies · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |