Children's use of the discounting principle: a perceptual approach

The present study introduced a perceptual analogue technique in a developmental investigation of the discounting principle. Subjects watched animated films depicting the simultaneous movements of two triangles toward a goal--one that was pushed by an external object (facilitative cause present) and one that was not (faciliatative cause absent). Although college students understood the discounting principle (i.e., they perceived that the nonfacilitated triangle was more intrinsically motivated than the facilitated object), kindergarteners, second graders, and fourth graders surprisingly did not. However, because many children (mis) interpreted the "push" as an aversive stimulus, a second experiment illustrated a sequence in which one of two triangles was "carried" toward a goal. For this version, subjects in Grades 2, 4, and 6, and in college all made the discounting-consistent choice, and kindergarteners tended to do the same (p < .15). Age differences thus emerged only in subjects' ability to explain their responses. From these results, the development of the multiple sufficient cause schema is discussed, and methodological implications of the animated film technique are noted.