title: Introspection on uncertainty and judicious help-seeking during the preschool years.
abstract: Little is known about the mechanisms underlying a ubiquitous behavior in preschoolers, help-seeking. We tested the hypothesis that preschoolers' awareness of their own uncertainty is associated with help-seeking. Three-, 4-, and 5-year-olds (N = 125) completed a perceptual identification task twice: once independently and once when they could request help from a confederate whose competence level was manipulated. Consistent with our hypothesis, participants sought help more frequently on trials for which, when required to answer independently, they expressed lower confidence. Children in the bad-helper condition were slower to respond after receiving help than those in the good-helper condition. Finally, females and children with more advanced theory of mind were more likely to seek help, identifying additional factors that relate to help-seeking.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, USA.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coughlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, USA.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hembacher
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Metropolitan State University of Denver, USA.
authors.forename: Kristen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Lyons
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, USA.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghetti
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D000066505:Help-Seeking Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D056345:Theory of Mind; D035501:Uncertainty