Less is more: The availability heuristic in early childhood

The British Journal of Developmental Psychology
Marie GeurtenThierry Meulemans

Abstract

This study examined whether young children are influenced by the subjective experience associated with an easy or difficult recall when making memory decisions. Seventy-one children, aged 4, 6, and 8 years, were asked to generate either a small (easy condition) or large (hard condition) number of first names. Statistical analyses revealed that participants in the hard condition were more likely to infer that they did not know many names than participants in the easy condition, contrary to what would be expected if children based their memory judgement on the objective number of recalled items. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that children as young as 4 years old rely on the subjective experience of ease to regulate their decision-making processes. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

References

Jul 23, 2003·Memory & Cognition·Deanne L WestermanMarianne E Lloyd
Jan 14, 2005·Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc·N Schwarz
Nov 25, 2005·Child Neuropsychology : a Journal on Normal and Abnormal Development in Childhood and Adolescence·Ida Sue Baron
Dec 23, 2009·Psychology and Aging·Thorsten PachurLael J Schooler
May 9, 2012·Journal of Experimental Psychology. Applied·Thorsten PachurFlorian Steinmann
Dec 17, 2014·Consciousness and Cognition·Marie GeurtenThierry Meulemans
Nov 26, 2015·Experimental Psychology·Marie GeurtenSylvie Willems

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Citations

Aug 19, 2020·Child Development·Marie GeurtenMarianne Lloyd
Mar 20, 2021·Europe's Journal of Psychology·Kamila Urban, Marek Urban

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