Bering Jesse M, Bjorklund David F
Department of Psychology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA.
Dev Psychol. 2004 Mar;40(2):217-33. doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.217.
Participants were interviewed about the biological and psychological functioning of a dead agent. In Experiment 1, even 4- to 6-year-olds stated that biological processes ceased at death, although this trend was more apparent among 6- to 8-year-olds. In Experiment 2, 4- to 12-year-olds were asked about psychological functioning. The youngest children were equally likely to state that both cognitive and psychobiological states continued at death, whereas the oldest children were more likely to state that cognitive states continued. In Experiment 3, children and adults were asked about an array of psychological states. With the exception of preschoolers, who did not differentiate most of the psychological states, older children and adults were likely to attribute epistemic, emotional, and desire states to dead agents. These findings suggest that developmental mechanisms underlie intuitive accounts of dead agents' minds.
参与者接受了关于一个已故个体的生物和心理机能的访谈。在实验1中，即使是4到6岁的儿童也表示生物过程在死亡时停止，尽管这种趋势在6到8岁的儿童中更为明显。在实验2中，4到12岁的儿童被问及心理机能。最小的儿童同样有可能表示认知和心理生物状态在死亡后仍会持续，而年龄最大的儿童则更有可能表示认知状态会持续。在实验3中，儿童和成人被问及一系列心理状态。除了没有区分大多数心理状态的学龄前儿童外，年龄较大的儿童和成人都倾向于将认知、情感和欲望状态归因于已故个体。这些发现表明，发展机制是对已故个体心理的直观理解的基础。
