Department of Psychology.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 2019 Dec;148(12):2120-2128. doi: 10.1037/xge0000606. Epub 2019 Apr 15.
From ancient objects in museums to souvenirs obtained on vacation, we often value objects for their distinctive histories. The present experiments investigate the developmental origins of people's feelings that objects with distinctive histories are special. In each of four experiments, 4- to 7-year-olds (total = 400) saw pairs of identical-looking objects in which one object was new and the other had a history that was either distinctive or mundane. In the first experiment, the histories did not involve people; in the remaining experiments, the histories were personal and related the objects to particular people. Distinctive histories affected children's valuations of regular objects (all experiments), but not their valuations of stuffed animals. Both older and younger children viewed regular objects with distinctive histories as more special than those with mundane histories. Older children mostly viewed objects with distinctive histories as more special than new objects, and younger children showed similar judgments when judging which object a person cared about more. Together, the findings reveal a novel way that information about the past influences children's judgments about the present and suggest that young children's valuations of objects depend on objects' histories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
从博物馆的古代文物到度假时购买的纪念品，我们常常因其独特的历史而珍视物品。本实验研究了人们对具有独特历史的物品感到特别的感觉的发展起源。在四项实验中的每一项中，4 至 7 岁的儿童（总计= 400）看到了一对看起来相同的物体，其中一个是新的，另一个具有独特或平凡的历史。在第一个实验中，历史与人物无关；在其余的实验中，历史是个人的，与特定的人有关。独特的历史影响了儿童对常规物品的评价（所有实验），但不影响对填充动物玩具的评价。无论是年龄较大的儿童还是年龄较小的儿童，都认为具有独特历史的常规物品比具有平凡历史的物品更特别。年龄较大的儿童大多认为具有独特历史的物品比新物品更特别，而年龄较小的儿童在判断一个人更关心哪个物品时也表现出类似的判断。总之，这些发现揭示了一种新的方式，即过去的信息影响了人们对现在的判断，并表明幼儿对物品的评价取决于物品的历史。
