New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Toddlers Are Capable Of Introspection

Date:
August 16, 2007
Source:
University of California - Davis
Summary:
Preschoolers are aware of their own thought processes, psychologists demonstrate. They taught 3- and 4-year-olds to communicate their awareness of their thought processes using pictures rather than words. Scientists have previously demonstrated that dolphins, monkeys and even rats can engage in some form of "metacognition," or an awareness of their own thought processes. But developmental psychologists had previously assumed that human children did not develop this capability before about age 5.
Share:
FULL STORY

Preschoolers are more introspective than we give them credit for, according to new research by Simona Ghetti, assistant professor of psychology at UC Davis.

Ghetti and her co-investigator, Kristen Lyons, a graduate student in psychology at UC Davis, will present their findings  August 17, at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco.

Scientists have demonstrated that dolphins, monkeys and even rats can engage in some form of "metacognition," or an awareness of their own thought processes. But developmental psychologists have assumed that human children do not develop this capability before about age 5.

Lyons and Ghetti have toppled that assumption by teaching 3- and 4-year-olds to communicate their awareness of their thought processes using pictures rather than words.

"We've shown that even very young children can think about their thinking," Ghetti said. "The reason we haven't appreciated it before now is that the studies that have been used to test for it have been too verbally demanding."

The UC Davis researchers devised a novel method to investigate metacognition in early childhood. They taught their preschool subjects to point to a photo of a confident-looking face when they felt confident they had the right answer to a question, and to a photo of a doubtful-looking child when they were not confident they had the right answer.

The tests showed that young children are aware of their uncertainty in the moment. Even 3-year-olds pointed to the confident face when they correctly identified, for example, a drawing of a monkey that had some features removed to make it harder to recognize. They pointed to the doubtful face if they could not come up with a correct answer.

"Even 3-year-olds are more confident when they're right than when they're wrong," Ghetti said.

How children develop the ability to experience, recognize and understand their thoughts and emotions is a topic of increasing scientific interest, since self-awareness is a prerequisite for the development of a wide range of important human traits, from a conscience to healthy relationships.


Story Source:

Materials provided by University of California - Davis. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

University of California - Davis. "Toddlers Are Capable Of Introspection." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 August 2007. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815135023.htm>.
University of California - Davis. (2007, August 16). Toddlers Are Capable Of Introspection. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815135023.htm
University of California - Davis. "Toddlers Are Capable Of Introspection." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070815135023.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES