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Children's explanations of the intentions underlying others' behaviour
Author(s) -
Grant Meridith G.,
Mills Candice M.
Publication year - 2011
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 - 10.1348/026151010x521394
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , recall , social psychology , cognitive psychology
This study investigated developmental differences in children's explanations of the intentions underlying the behaviours of others, including behaviours that conflicted with their expectations. Children aged 6–13 and adults explained the intentions underlying their predictions of behaviour following stories with ambiguous, positive, and negative cues. Children were then presented with experimenter–provided conflicting behaviour and explained again. Results indicated that with no clear cues, children and adults had optimistic expectations. When cues were provided, participants across development provided explanations consistent with positive cues, but children under age 10 were reluctant to provide explanations consistent with negative cues, despite good recall. When explaining conflicting behaviour, people may hesitate to overlook suspicions of negative intent sometimes even in the face of good behaviour, and this reluctance may increase with age. Findings suggest we may all overcome an optimistic bias, but children under age 10 may struggle more to do so.