Enhancing Preschoolers\u27 Understanding of Ambiguity in Communication: A Training Study on Misunderstandings

Understanding knowledge acquisition involves a comprehension of the relationship between a person\u27s access to relevant information and that person\u27s subsequent knowledge. This report investigates how preschoolers improve in their ability to evaluate the effects of two distinct types of messages—ambiguous and informative—on a listener\u27s knowledge. Three- and four-year olds were pre- and posttested for their ability to judge message quality from a third-person perspective. Between sessions, children were assigned to one of three training conditions. In all conditions, children observed a speaker providing ambiguous messages and informative messages to a listener. In the general-feedback condition, children were informed as to whether the listener gained knowledge after each message. In the specific-feedback condition, children were informed as to whether, as well as why, the listener gained knowledge. In the no-feedback condition, children were not informed as to the listener’s state of knowledge. Children in the specific-feedback condition improved their ability to judge messages, and children in the general-feedback condition showed a marginally significant improvement. No learning effects, however, were observed in a transfer task for any of the groups. Results suggest that informing preschoolers about message quality during conversational exchanges contributes to their developing understanding of how people acquire knowledge about the world

Enhancing Preschoolers’ Understanding of Ambiguity in Communication: A Training Study on Misunderstandings

Understanding knowledge acquisition involves a comprehension of the relationship between a person’s access to relevant information and that person’s subsequent knowledge. This report investigates how preschoolers improve in their ability to evaluate the effects of two distinct types of messages—ambiguous and informative—on a listener’s knowledge. Three- and four-year olds were pre- and posttested for their ability to judge message quality from a third-person perspective. Between sessions, children were assigned to one of three training conditions. In all conditions, children observed a speaker providing ambiguous messages and informative messages to a listener. In the general-feedback condition, children were informed as to whether the listener gained knowledge after each message. In the specific-feedback condition, children were informed as to whether, as well as why, the listener gained knowledge. In the no-feedback condition, children were not informed as to the listener’s state of knowledge. Children in the specific-feedback condition improved their ability to judge messages, and children in the general-feedback condition showed a marginally significant improvement. No learning effects, however, were observed in a transfer task for any of the groups. Results suggest that informing preschoolers about message quality during conversational exchanges contributes to their developing understanding of how people acquire knowledge about the world.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIP

Patterns of personal and social adjustment among sport-involved and noninvolved urban middle-school children.

This article examines patterns of adjustment among urban middle-school children as a function of involvement in organized team sports. Four hundred twenty-three seventh-grade students (216 boys and 207 girls) reported on their involvement in sport, self-esteem, delinquent activity, and drug use during the year preceding the survey. Physical Education teachers rated social competence, shyness/withdrawal, and disinhibition/aggression. Compared with noninvolved children, sport-involved youth reported higher self-esteem and were rated by teachers as more socially competent and less shy and withdrawn. Sport-involved youth, including those in contact sports, were not rated as more aggressive than noninvolved children. And though sport-involved youth reported a slightly broader range of delinquent activities than noninvolved youth, sport-involved boys were actually less likely than noninvolved boys to have experimented with marijuana