Theory of mind selectively predicts preschoolers' knowledge-based selective word learning

Children can selectively attend to various attributes of a model, such as past accuracy or physical strength, to guide their social learning. There is a debate regarding whether a relation exists between theory‐of‐mind skills and selective learning. We hypothesized that high performance on theory‐of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of developmental psychology 2015-11, Vol.33 (4), p.464-475
Main Authors: Brosseau-Liard, Patricia, Penney, Danielle, Poulin-Dubois, Diane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
accuracy
Child Development - physiology
Child, Preschool
Female
Humans
Knowledge
Learning - physiology
Male
selective learning
Social Perception
strength
theory of mind
Theory of Mind - physiology
trust
word learning
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Children can selectively attend to various attributes of a model, such as past accuracy or physical strength, to guide their social learning. There is a debate regarding whether a relation exists between theory‐of‐mind skills and selective learning. We hypothesized that high performance on theory‐of‐mind tasks would predict preference for learning new words from accurate informants (an epistemic attribute), but not from physically strong informants (a non‐epistemic attribute). Three‐ and 4‐year‐olds (N = 65) completed two selective learning tasks, and their theory‐of‐mind abilities were assessed. As expected, performance on a theory‐of‐mind battery predicted children's preference to learn from more accurate informants but not from physically stronger informants. Results thus suggest that preschoolers with more advanced theory of mind have a better understanding of knowledge and apply that understanding to guide their selection of informants. This work has important implications for research on children's developing social cognition and early learning.
ISSN:0261-510X
2044-835X
DOI:10.1111/bjdp.12107