title: Preschool children's use of information about age and perceptual access to infer another person's knowledge.
abstract: Preschool children's use of information about age and perceptual experience to infer other people's knowledge was investigated. Because young children may view adults as omniscient, the hypothesis that 3-year-olds regard an observer's age and perceptual experience as equally important when inferring the observer's knowledge was tested. In Experiment 1, 3- and 4-year-olds were asked to judge which of 2 observers, 1 adult and 1 same-age child, knew the identity of a hidden object. On some trials, the adult looked at the hidden object; on other trials, the same-age peer looked at the hidden object. The children who were 3.5 years old relied on information about perceptual experience when judging knowledge. However, the younger 3-year-olds often chose the peer, even though the adult was knowledgeable. The children may have chosen the peer on the basis of familiarity; therefore, adult and child dolls were used in Experiment 2. Neither the 3-year-olds nor the 4-year-olds attributed knowledge on the basis of age rather than perceptual experience.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, De Kalb 60115, USA. pillow@niu.edu
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Pillow
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Weed
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D011340:Problem Solving; D012938:Social Perception