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Early Understanding of the Division of Cognitive Labor
Author(s) -
Lutz Donna J.,
Keil Frank C.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8624.00458
Subject(s) - psychology , attribution , cognition , cognitive development , division of labour , developmental psychology , sample (material) , child development , contrast (vision) , cognitive psychology , social psychology , chemistry , chromatography , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , computer science , economics , market economy
Two studies with 3–, 4–, and 5–year–olds ( N = 104) examined whether young children can differentiate expertise in the minds of others. Study 1 revealed that all children in the sample could correctly attribute observable knowledge to familiar experts (i.e., a doctor and a car mechanic). Further, 4– and 5–year–olds could correctly attribute knowledge of underlying scientific principles to the appropriate experts. In contrast, Study 2 demonstrated that 3–, 4–, and 5–year–olds have difficulty making attributions of knowledge of scientific principles to unfamiliar experts. A computational analysis in Study 3 indicated that 4– and 5–year–olds’ successes on the first two studies could not be attributed to the way in which words co–occur in discourse. Overall, these studies showed that young children have a sense of the division of cognitive labor, albeit fragile.