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Multifaceted information-seeking motives in children
Gaia Molinaro1,2,3, Irene Cogliati Dezza4,5,6, Sarah Katharina Bühler4,5
1Affective Brain Lab, Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, WC1H 0AP, UK. gaiamolinaro@berkeley.edu.
Nature Communications
|September 7, 2023
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Cognitive development
- Information-seeking behavior
Background:
- Children need to gather information to learn about their environment from an early age.
- Information-seeking choices are complex due to multiple, sometimes competing, purposes of knowledge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the developmental trajectories of diverse information-seeking motives in children.
- To identify key factors influencing children's information-seeking choices and how these evolve with age.
Main Methods:
- Five experiments were conducted involving 521 children aged 4–12 years.
- Children's information-seeking choices were analyzed based on factors like uncertainty reduction, action-directing utility, and positivity of information.
Main Results:
- Children aged 4 prioritize seeking positive and actionable information.
- Uncertainty reduction as a motive emerges around age 5.
- Motives for usefulness and uncertainty reduction strengthen with age, while seeking positive information remains constant.
Conclusions:
- Children's information-seeking motives develop dynamically, integrating various factors.
- The relative importance of different information-seeking drivers shifts throughout childhood.
- Understanding these developmental shifts is crucial for comprehending cognitive and behavioral development.
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