Weissman M D, Kalish C W
Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 53706, USA.
J Exp Child Psychol. 1999 Aug;73(4):245-65. doi: 10.1006/jecp.1999.2505.
Two studies examined children's beliefs about maternal intention as a mechanism for trait inheritance. In Study 1, 42 preschool-aged (4 to 5 years old) children and 81 adults were shown pictures of adult women (mothers) and were asked to identify their daughters. In the critical condition participants were asked to choose between a girl who shared an attribute with the mother and a girl who had the attribute desired by the mother. Trait types included physically heritable traits, nonheritable traits, and beliefs. Results from this study suggest that preschoolers do believe that maternal intention plays a role in the inheritance of physical traits. Study 2 was designed to determine whether preschoolers recognize limits on both the efficacy and the timing of maternal intention. Results suggest that children see some properties as outside of maternal control. Further, they do seem to see maternal intentions as operating prior to birth. One finding of these studies is that preschoolers may not have strong intuitions that offspring will resemble their parents. In addition, children seem to have different intuitions about the mechanisms of inheritance than do adults.
两项研究考察了儿童对于母亲意图作为特质遗传机制的看法。在研究1中，向42名学龄前儿童（4至5岁）和81名成年人展示成年女性（母亲）的图片，并要求他们辨认出这些女性的女儿。在关键条件下，参与者需要在与母亲有共同特质的女孩和具有母亲所期望特质的女孩之间做出选择。特质类型包括身体可遗传特质、不可遗传特质和信念。这项研究的结果表明，学龄前儿童确实认为母亲意图在身体特质的遗传中发挥作用。研究2旨在确定学龄前儿童是否认识到母亲意图在效力和时间上的局限性。结果表明，儿童认为某些特性超出了母亲的控制范围。此外，他们似乎确实认为母亲意图在出生前就起作用了。这些研究的一个发现是，学龄前儿童可能没有强烈的直觉认为后代会与父母相像。此外，儿童对于遗传机制的直觉似乎与成年人不同。
