Abstract:
How do children decide when it is appropriate to ask a question? In Study 1 (preregistered), 50 4- and 5-year-olds, 50 7- and 8-year-olds, and 100 adults watched vignettes featuring a child who had a question, and participants indicated whether they thought the child should ask the question \"right now.\" Both adults and children endorsed more question-asking to a well-known informant than to an acquaintance and to someone doing nothing than to someone busy working or busy socializing. However, younger children endorsed asking questions to someone who was busy more often than older children and adults. In addition, Big Five personality traits predicted endorsement of question-asking. In Study 2 (preregistered, N = 500), mothers\' self-reports showed that children\'s actual question-asking varied with age, informant activity, and informant familiarity in ways that paralleled the results of Study 1. In Study 3 (N = 100), we examined mothers\' responses to their children\'s question-asking and found that mothers\' responses to their children\'s question-asking varied based on the mother\'s activity. In addition, mothers high in authoritarianism were less likely to answer their children\'s questions when they were busy than mothers low in authoritarianism. In sum, across three studies, we found evidence that the age-related decline in children\'s question-asking to their parents reflects a change in children\'s reasoning about when it is appropriate to ask a question.
摘要:
儿童如何决定何时提出问题?在研究1(预注册)中,50名4岁和5岁儿童,50名7岁和8岁的孩子,100名成年人观看了一个有问题的孩子的小插曲,参与者表明他们是否认为孩子应该马上问这个问题。“成人和儿童都赞同向一个知名的线人提出更多的问题,而不是向一个熟人提出问题,而不是向一个忙于工作或忙于社交的人提出问题。然而,年幼的孩子赞同向比年长的孩子和成年人更忙的人提问。此外,五大人格特质预示着对提问的认可。在研究2中(预注册,N=500),母亲的自我报告显示,儿童的实际提问随年龄而变化,线人活动,以及与研究1的结果平行的线人熟悉程度。在研究3(N=100)中,我们检查了母亲对孩子提问的回答,发现母亲对孩子提问的回答因母亲的活动而异。此外,专制主义的母亲在忙碌时回答孩子的问题的可能性比专制主义的母亲低。总之,在三项研究中,我们发现有证据表明,儿童向父母提问的年龄相关下降反映了儿童对何时提问合适的推理的变化。