Children’s use of personal knowledge and adult testimony in fantasy/reality distinctions
<p>This study aimed to investigate children’s conceptual understanding of particular human attributes and their relation to children’s judgements that a person was ‘real’ or ‘not real’. The study explored the extent to which children relied on their own knowledge versus the testimony of others...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2017
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| _version_ | 1826288047678816256 |
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| author | Fritz, L |
| author2 | Sylva, K |
| author_facet | Sylva, K Fritz, L |
| author_sort | Fritz, L |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>This study aimed to investigate children’s conceptual understanding of particular human attributes and their relation to children’s judgements that a person was ‘real’ or ‘not real’. The study explored the extent to which children relied on their own knowledge versus the testimony of others when making reality-status judgements about unfamiliar people with characteristics that were <em>possible</em>, <em>improbable</em> or <em>impossible</em> of human beings. Testimony came from a child or an adult in order to make comparisons of children’s trust in two different informants with varying amounts of knowledge. The sample consisted of 61 children between the ages of 3 and 6 recruited from a primary school in Essex.</p> <p>The study employed a within-subject experimental design, in which both the attributes of the stimuli and the testimony of informants were manipulated in order to observe the effect on children’s reality-status judgements. In order to investigate the possibility of developmental trends, the sample was divided into two age groups made up of 3-4 and 5-6 year olds. A novel categorisation task and interview schedule were developed for this study, which measured children’s initial reality-status judgements and compared these with their judgements after hearing testimony from an adult or a child.</p> <p>Analysis of children’s judgements showed that children across the sample distinguished between possible and impossible attributes, both in their initial judgements and in their use of testimony, but that only the older age group distinguished between improbable and impossible attributes. There were no significant differences in children’s trust in the two different informants, but children did rely on testimony differentially according to both age and the type of attribute.</p> <p>The findings suggest that young children are able to reflect upon the extent of their own knowledge, and the potential reliability of other people, in order to make decisions about an unfamiliar entity’s reality status. This study extends the findings from previous research by addressing children’s understanding of the kinds of attributes that render human beings real or unreal. Future research could build on this study by employing a longitudinal within-subject design, which would suggest possible causal influences, and would also offer insights into the developmental trajectory of children’s conceptual understanding within this field.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:07:49Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:9f979a52-3bc6-4ce0-a75f-bcff2906c312 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:07:49Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:9f979a52-3bc6-4ce0-a75f-bcff2906c3122022-03-27T00:59:04ZChildren’s use of personal knowledge and adult testimony in fantasy/reality distinctionsThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_bdccuuid:9f979a52-3bc6-4ce0-a75f-bcff2906c312Developmental psychologyEducationEnglishORA Deposit2017Fritz, LSylva, K<p>This study aimed to investigate children’s conceptual understanding of particular human attributes and their relation to children’s judgements that a person was ‘real’ or ‘not real’. The study explored the extent to which children relied on their own knowledge versus the testimony of others when making reality-status judgements about unfamiliar people with characteristics that were <em>possible</em>, <em>improbable</em> or <em>impossible</em> of human beings. Testimony came from a child or an adult in order to make comparisons of children’s trust in two different informants with varying amounts of knowledge. The sample consisted of 61 children between the ages of 3 and 6 recruited from a primary school in Essex.</p> <p>The study employed a within-subject experimental design, in which both the attributes of the stimuli and the testimony of informants were manipulated in order to observe the effect on children’s reality-status judgements. In order to investigate the possibility of developmental trends, the sample was divided into two age groups made up of 3-4 and 5-6 year olds. A novel categorisation task and interview schedule were developed for this study, which measured children’s initial reality-status judgements and compared these with their judgements after hearing testimony from an adult or a child.</p> <p>Analysis of children’s judgements showed that children across the sample distinguished between possible and impossible attributes, both in their initial judgements and in their use of testimony, but that only the older age group distinguished between improbable and impossible attributes. There were no significant differences in children’s trust in the two different informants, but children did rely on testimony differentially according to both age and the type of attribute.</p> <p>The findings suggest that young children are able to reflect upon the extent of their own knowledge, and the potential reliability of other people, in order to make decisions about an unfamiliar entity’s reality status. This study extends the findings from previous research by addressing children’s understanding of the kinds of attributes that render human beings real or unreal. Future research could build on this study by employing a longitudinal within-subject design, which would suggest possible causal influences, and would also offer insights into the developmental trajectory of children’s conceptual understanding within this field.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Developmental psychology Education Fritz, L Children’s use of personal knowledge and adult testimony in fantasy/reality distinctions |
| title | Children’s use of personal knowledge and adult testimony in fantasy/reality distinctions |
| title_full | Children’s use of personal knowledge and adult testimony in fantasy/reality distinctions |
| title_fullStr | Children’s use of personal knowledge and adult testimony in fantasy/reality distinctions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Children’s use of personal knowledge and adult testimony in fantasy/reality distinctions |
| title_short | Children’s use of personal knowledge and adult testimony in fantasy/reality distinctions |
| title_sort | children s use of personal knowledge and adult testimony in fantasy reality distinctions |
| topic | Developmental psychology Education |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT fritzl childrensuseofpersonalknowledgeandadulttestimonyinfantasyrealitydistinctions |