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Less is more: The availability heuristic in early childhood
Author(s) -
Geurten Marie,
Willems Sylvie,
Germain Sophie,
Meulemans Thierry
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/bjdp.12114
Subject(s) - psychology , judgement , recall , developmental psychology , heuristics , heuristic , metamemory , cognitive psychology , cognition , metacognition , psychiatry , artificial intelligence , political science , computer science , law , operating system
This study examined whether young children are influenced by the subjective experience associated with an easy or difficult recall when making memory decisions. Seventy‐one children, aged 4, 6, and 8 years, were asked to generate either a small (easy condition) or large (hard condition) number of first names. Statistical analyses revealed that participants in the hard condition were more likely to infer that they did not know many names than participants in the easy condition, contrary to what would be expected if children based their memory judgement on the objective number of recalled items. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that children as young as 4 years old rely on the subjective experience of ease to regulate their decision‐making processes. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.