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Young children selectively seek help when solving problems

Annette Cluver1, Gail Heyman, Leslie J Carver

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|March 15, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Young children demonstrate selective help-seeking, preferring knowledgeable individuals. This study shows children choose "good helpers" over "bad helpers" in problem-solving tasks, indicating early social cognition development.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive development
  • Social cognition
  • Developmental psychology

Background:

  • Children selectively rely on information sources, primarily in factual contexts.
  • Limited research exists on children's selectivity in problem-solving scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether children exhibit selectivity in choosing sources of help within problem-solving tasks.
  • To determine if age influences this selective help-seeking behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Two age groups of children (20-24 months and 30-36 months, N=60) participated.
  • Children engaged with difficult problem-solving tasks and interacted with adult experimenters portraying 'good' or 'bad' helpers.

Main Results:

  • Participants in both age groups consistently preferred seeking help from 'good helpers'.
  • This preference was evident across different age ranges, suggesting early development of this selectivity.

Conclusions:

  • Young children evaluate potential helpers based on their perceived helpfulness.
  • Children utilize this social evaluation to guide their choices in seeking assistance for problem-solving.

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