Skill-Related Uncertainty and Expected Value in 5- to 7-Year-Olds

Studies using an Information Integration approach have shown that children from four years have a good intuitive understanding of probability and expected value. Experience of skill-related uncertainty may provide one naturalistic opportunity to develop this intuitive understanding. To test the viab...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Anne Schlottmann, Sarah Bayless
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: DIGITAL.CSIC 2010-01-01
Series:Psicológica
Online Access:http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=16917002015
_version_ 1817981990408814592
author Anne Schlottmann
Sarah Bayless
author_facet Anne Schlottmann
Sarah Bayless
author_sort Anne Schlottmann
collection DOAJ
description Studies using an Information Integration approach have shown that children from four years have a good intuitive understanding of probability and expected value. Experience of skill-related uncertainty may provide one naturalistic opportunity to develop this intuitive understanding. To test the viability of this view, 16 5- and 16 7-year-olds played a marble rolling game in which size of the target and distance from it varied factorially. Task difficulty judgements (prior to practical experience with the game) reflected both objective task structure and subsequent performance for both age groups. Children then judged how happy they would be playing games of variable difficulty for different prizes. These judgements had the multiplicative structure predicted by the normative expected value model, again for both age groups. Thus children can use task difficulties as estimates of personal success probability in skill-related tasks. Our findings therefore extend previous work on early probability understanding from games of chance to games of skill.
first_indexed 2024-04-13T23:14:41Z
format Article
id doaj.art-f1ef8a1786cd464bb93e09b8a6be28a8
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1576-8597
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-13T23:14:41Z
publishDate 2010-01-01
publisher DIGITAL.CSIC
record_format Article
series Psicológica
spelling doaj.art-f1ef8a1786cd464bb93e09b8a6be28a82022-12-22T02:25:28ZengDIGITAL.CSICPsicológica1576-85972010-01-01313677687Skill-Related Uncertainty and Expected Value in 5- to 7-Year-OldsAnne SchlottmannSarah BaylessStudies using an Information Integration approach have shown that children from four years have a good intuitive understanding of probability and expected value. Experience of skill-related uncertainty may provide one naturalistic opportunity to develop this intuitive understanding. To test the viability of this view, 16 5- and 16 7-year-olds played a marble rolling game in which size of the target and distance from it varied factorially. Task difficulty judgements (prior to practical experience with the game) reflected both objective task structure and subsequent performance for both age groups. Children then judged how happy they would be playing games of variable difficulty for different prizes. These judgements had the multiplicative structure predicted by the normative expected value model, again for both age groups. Thus children can use task difficulties as estimates of personal success probability in skill-related tasks. Our findings therefore extend previous work on early probability understanding from games of chance to games of skill.http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=16917002015
spellingShingle Anne Schlottmann
Sarah Bayless
Skill-Related Uncertainty and Expected Value in 5- to 7-Year-Olds
Psicológica
title Skill-Related Uncertainty and Expected Value in 5- to 7-Year-Olds
title_full Skill-Related Uncertainty and Expected Value in 5- to 7-Year-Olds
title_fullStr Skill-Related Uncertainty and Expected Value in 5- to 7-Year-Olds
title_full_unstemmed Skill-Related Uncertainty and Expected Value in 5- to 7-Year-Olds
title_short Skill-Related Uncertainty and Expected Value in 5- to 7-Year-Olds
title_sort skill related uncertainty and expected value in 5 to 7 year olds
url http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=16917002015
work_keys_str_mv AT anneschlottmann skillrelateduncertaintyandexpectedvaluein5to7yearolds
AT sarahbayless skillrelateduncertaintyandexpectedvaluein5to7yearolds