Markovits H, Fleury M L, Quinn S, Venet M
Département de psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec.
Child Dev. 1998 Jun;69(3):742-55.
The present article examines 2 predictions concerning conditional reasoning in children derived from a revised version of Markovits's model of conditional reasoning. The first study examined the prediction that younger children (8 years of age) would have greater difficulty in responding correctly to premises where the antecedent was strongly associated with the consequent than to premises where the association was weaker; for example, "If something is a car, then it has a motor" should be more difficult than "If something is a refrigerator, then it has a motor." A total of 55 children in grades 2 and 3 (average age: 8 years) and 49 children in grades 5 and 6 (average age: 11 years) were given either 2 strongly associated problems or weakly associated counterparts. Results indicated that 8-year-olds did better on the weakly associated problems than on the strongly associated problems, but there was no difference among the 11-year-olds. The second study examined the prediction that younger children (8 years of age) would have greater difficulty in responding correctly to causal premises ("If a rock is thrown at a window, the window will break") than to corresponding ad hoc premises ("A rock is something that can be used to break a window"). A total of 53 children in grades 2 and 3 (average age: 8 years) and 49 children in grades 5 and 6 (average age: 11 years) were given either 2 causal problems or ad hoc counterparts. Results indicated that 8-year-old did better on the ad hoc problems than on the causal problems, but there was no difference among the 11-year-olds. These studies are interpreted as consistent with the idea that 1 major factor in the development of reasoning in this age level is the development of children's ability to explore their own knowledge base.
本文考察了源自马尔科维茨条件推理模型修订版的关于儿童条件推理的两个预测。第一项研究考察了这样一个预测：年幼儿童（8岁）在对前提中前件与后件联系紧密的情况做出正确反应时，会比在前件与后件联系较弱的前提情况下遇到更大困难；例如，“如果某物是汽车，那么它有发动机”应该比“如果某物是冰箱，那么它有发动机”更难。总共55名二、三年级学生（平均年龄：8岁）和49名五、六年级学生（平均年龄：11岁）被给予了2个联系紧密的问题或相应联系较弱的问题。结果表明，8岁儿童在联系较弱的问题上比在联系紧密的问题上表现更好，但11岁儿童之间没有差异。第二项研究考察了这样一个预测：年幼儿童（8岁）在对因果前提（“如果一块石头扔向窗户，窗户会破碎”）做出正确反应时，会比在相应的特殊前提（“石头是一种可用于打破窗户的东西”）情况下遇到更大困难。总共53名二、三年级学生（平均年龄：8岁）和49名五、六年级学生（平均年龄：11岁）被给予了2个因果问题或相应的特殊问题。结果表明，8岁儿童在特殊问题上比在因果问题上表现更好，但11岁儿童之间没有差异。这些研究被解释为与以下观点一致：这个年龄阶段推理发展中的一个主要因素是儿童探索自身知识库能力的发展。
