Young children's expectation of competence in word learning.
The study investigates a social-pragmatic expectation that may motivate children to search their environment when asked for the referent of a novel label. In one experimental phase, the experimenter presented 40 two-year-olds a bucket containing a novel object and another visible object--either familiar or novel. The experimenter either asked children for the referent of a novel label, or a non-specific question. In a second experimental phase, all children saw a bucket containing a novel object, and two visible objects--one familiar and one novel. We found that, in both phases, children tended to bypass the visible novel object, preferring instead to search inside the bucket for the referent of a novel label. These findings are consistent with an expectation--dubbed the EXPECTATION OF COMPETENCE--that if an adult asks a child for the referent of a name, it is because the adult likely believes that the child knows that name, and thus the child can expect to be capable of finding its referent.
Diesendruck
Gil
G
Department of Psychology and Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel. dieseng@mail.biu.ac.il
Shemer
Ginnat
G
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014825:Vocabulary