title: Test sample selection by preschool children: honoring diversity.
abstract: In a test of an inductive inference, preschool children's selection of objects was examined. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds selected diverse objects first in sequential selections; in Experiment 2, adults and 4-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, made similar selections under the same conditions. A defective object led subjects in all age groups to test a similar object. In Experiment 3, 4-year-olds chose to test a pair of dissimilar objects rather than a pair of similar objects, but 3-year-olds did not. Three-year-olds' selections were independent of diversity. In Experiment 4, we attempted to emphasize the diversity of objects for 3-year-olds. Their first task was to select an object that was the same as or different from a target object. The subjects responded correctly in this task but did not prefer to test diverse objects. Experiment 5 showed that neither 3- nor 4-year-olds have a bias to select nondiverse objects in a nontest context. The findings indicate that children as young as 4 years old value diverse evidence in induction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3720 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6196, USA. liz@psych.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Shipley
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shepperson
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003071:Cognition; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests