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Overestimation of Knowledge About Word Meanings: The “Misplaced Meaning” Effect
Author(s) -
Kominsky Jonathan F.,
Keil Frank C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.498
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1551-6709
pISSN - 0364-0213
DOI - 10.1111/cogs.12122
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , psychology , overconfidence effect , word (group theory) , task (project management) , cognitive psychology , word learning , developmental psychology , linguistics , social psychology , vocabulary , philosophy , management , economics , psychotherapist
Children and adults may not realize how much they depend on external sources in understanding word meanings. Four experiments investigated the existence and developmental course of a “Misplaced Meaning” ( MM ) effect, wherein children and adults overestimate their knowledge about the meanings of various words by underestimating how much they rely on outside sources to determine precise reference. Studies 1 and 2 demonstrate that children and adults show a highly consistent MM effect, and that it is stronger in young children. Study 3 demonstrates that adults are explicitly aware of the availability of outside knowledge, and that this awareness may be related to the strength of the MM effect. Study 4 rules out general overconfidence effects by examining a metalinguistic task in which adults are well calibrated.