Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other

Social Foundations of Self II: The Generalized Other

According to George Herbert Mead, as children progress beyond the game stage, they develop a more comprehensive understanding of societal rules and norms. This cognitive and social development enables them to internalize the expectations of the broader community, refining their ability to regulate behavior.Consistent participation in organized activities is crucial in helping children recognize that their actions are not isolated but contribute to a more significant, interconnected group...

Theory of Attribution II: Kelley's Covariation Theory

Theory of Attribution II: Kelley's Covariation Theory

Attribution theory plays a crucial role in social psychology, helping to explain how individuals interpret the causes of behavior. One prominent model within this field is Harold Kelley's covariation theory, which provides a systematic approach to determining whether internal traits or external circumstances drive a person's actions. The model posits that individuals rely on three key types of information—consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness—to make these judgments.Consensus:...

Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition

Revisionist Views of Adolescent and Adult Cognition

A revisionist approach to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development has brought new insights that challenge and reinterpret his established ideas. Piaget proposed that the formal operational stage, emerging in adolescence, represents the culmination of cognitive maturity. During this stage, individuals are said to develop abstract thinking, engage in systematic problem-solving, and show a form of egocentrism, believing others are as preoccupied with their behavior as they are...

Theory of Attribution I: Correspondent Inference Theory

Theory of Attribution I: Correspondent Inference Theory

Correspondent inference theory, proposed by Jones and Davis in 1965, seeks to explain how individuals infer stable personality traits from observed behaviors. It suggests that people attribute actions to underlying dispositions rather than external circumstances, particularly when the behavior appears intentional and socially significant.Voluntary Behavior and Dispositional AttributionAccording to this theory, individuals are more likely to attribute behavior to personal traits when it appears...

Confirmation Biases

Confirmation Biases

The confirmation bias is the tendency to focus on information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore information that is inconsistent with our expectations. For example, if you think that your professor is not very nice, you notice all of the instances of rude behavior exhibited by the professor while ignoring the countless pleasant interactions he is involved in on a daily basis. Have you ever fallen prey to the confirmation bias, either as the source or target of such bias?

The Nativist Approach

The Nativist Approach

The nativist approach to infant cognitive development proposes that infants are born with inherent knowledge structures that allow them to interpret the world almost immediately. This perspective contrasts with earlier developmental theories, such as those proposed by Jean Piaget, which emphasized a more gradual acquisition of cognitive abilities through interaction with the environment. One key concept in this approach is object permanence — the understanding that objects continue to...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Children learn cause-and-effect relations from fantastical and realistic storybooks.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2025

Same author

Why wearing a yellow hat is impossible: Chinese and U.S. children's possibility judgments.

Cognition·2024

Same author

Exploring factors influencing young children's learning from storybooks: Interactive and multimedia features.

Journal of experimental child psychology·2023

Same author

Brave new world: Imaginative fictions offer simulated safety and actual benefits.

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2022

Same author

Epistemic Vigilance in Early Ontogeny: Children's Use of Nonverbal Behavior to Detect Deception.

Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior·2021

Same author

Children's Use of Testimony to Determine Reality Status.

Child development·2021

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 7, 2026

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime

Published on: May 3, 2016

Interactions Between Knowledge and Testimony in Children's Reality-Status Judgments.

Gabriel Lopez-Mobilia¹, Jacqueline D Woolley¹

¹Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin.

Journal of Cognition and Development : Official Journal of the Cognitive Development Society

|February 14, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Children

More Related Videos

The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling

The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling

Published on: April 6, 2018

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Published on: July 22, 2025

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Mar 7, 2026

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime

An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime

Published on: May 3, 2016

The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling

The Modified Temptation Resistance Task: A Paradigm to Elicit Children's Strategic Lie-telling

Published on: April 6, 2018

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Published on: July 22, 2025

Area of Science:

Cognitive Development
Developmental Psychology

Background:

Children's reality-status judgments are crucial for understanding the world.
Information processing abilities influence how children evaluate novel information.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the information processing abilities behind children's reality-status judgments.
To examine how children use world knowledge and testimony to assess novel entities.

Main Methods:

Two studies involved 40 5- to 6-year-olds and 53 7- to 8-year-olds.
Participants heard about novel entities and decided whether to seek testimony from varied informants.

Main Results:

Children evaluated the fit of new information with existing knowledge.
This evaluation influenced their decision to seek testimony.
Testimony was most impactful when it neither conflicted with nor was representative of existing knowledge.

Conclusions:

Children's information processing abilities enable them to assess novel information against their world knowledge.
This cognitive process guides their judgments about reality and information seeking.