Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:05:55.329Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Deep thinking in children: The case for knowledge change in analogical development

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 1998

Dedre Gentner  and
Mary Jo Rattermann
Dedre Gentner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 gentner@nwu.edu
Mary Jo Rattermann
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604 m_rattermann@acad.fandm.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Halford, Wilson & Phillips argue that cognitive development is driven by increases in processing capacity. We suggest that changes in relational knowledge are as important or more so. We present evidence that 3-year-olds' analogical abilities are sharply improved by teaching them relational labels; over a 30-minute experimental session children gained approximately 2 years in effective performance. These results mandate caution interpreting age-related change as indicating maturational change, and call for a deeper consideration of the role of epistemological change in cognitive development.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 21 , Issue 6 , December 1998 , pp. 837 - 838
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)