Heyman Gail, Barner David, Heumann Jennifer, Schenck Lauren
Department of Psychology, University of California at San Diego.
Cogn Sci. 2014 May-Jun;38(4):683-700. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12089. Epub 2013 Sep 24.
Reasoning about ulterior motives was investigated among children ages 6-10 years (total N = 119). In each of two studies, participants were told about children who offered gifts to peers who needed help. Each giver chose to present a gift in either a public setting, which is consistent with having an ulterior motive to enhance one's reputation, or in a private setting, which is not consistent with having an ulterior motive. In each study, the 6- to 7-year olds showed no evidence of understanding that the public givers might have ulterior motives, but the 8- to 10-year olds rated the private givers more favorably. In , the older children were more likely than the younger children to refer to impression management when explaining their judgments of the givers. The younger children who mentioned impression management did so to justify a preference for public givers (e.g., by explaining that public givers are nicer because more of their peers will know that they are nice). Results from suggest that developmental change in children's reasoning about intentions and social outcomes contributes to their understanding of ulterior motives.
对6至10岁儿童（共119名）的潜在动机推理进行了研究。在两项研究中，参与者都被告知有孩子给需要帮助的同龄人送礼物的事情。每个送礼者选择在公开场合送礼物，这与为了提升自己声誉的潜在动机相符，或者在私下场合送礼物，这与潜在动机不符。在每项研究中，6至7岁的儿童没有表现出理解公开送礼者可能有潜在动机的迹象，但8至10岁的儿童对私下送礼者的评价更高。在[具体研究中]，年龄较大的儿童在解释他们对送礼者的判断时，比年龄较小的儿童更有可能提及印象管理。提到印象管理的较年幼的儿童这样做是为了为他们对公开送礼者的偏好辩护（例如，解释说公开送礼者更好，因为更多的同龄人会知道他们很好）。[研究]结果表明，儿童在意图和社会结果推理方面的发展变化有助于他们对潜在动机的理解。
