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Young children's understanding of phenomena and properties in domains where naive biology and naive psychology interact

Research Project

Project/Area Number 14510124
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field 教育・社会系心理学
Research InstitutionChiba University

Principal Investigator

INAGAKI Kayoko  Chiba University, Faculty of Education, Professor, 教育学部, 教授 (90090290)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) HATANO Giyoo  University of the Air, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Professor, 教養学部, 教授 (60049575)
Project Period (FY) 2002 – 2005
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2005)
Budget Amount *help
¥3,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000)
Fiscal Year 2002: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
Keywordsnaive biology / naive psychology / physical properties / mental properties / mind-body distinction / psychogenic bodily phenomena / conceptual development / 心因性身体現象 / 病気の回復 / 病気の抵抗力 / 病気の原因 / 道徳的行動 / 幼児の理解 / 特性推論 / 心理的特性 / 特性の安定性 / 身体的特性と心理的特性の区別 / 幼児の楽天主義 / 特性の変化
Research Abstract

This project aimed at revealing how young children understand properties and phenomena in domains that naive biology and naive psychology interact. The following results were found through a series of studies with individual interview methods.
1. Studies dealing with whether young children could differentiate intermediate properties (i.e., physical dispositional, mental dispositional, physical ability, and mental ability properties) in terms of their long-term modifiability and effective means for modifying them indicated that children as young as 5 years of age had robust intuition about the nature of psychological/mental and biological/physical properties ; the more genetically determined the physical property was, the more difficult the children judged it to be able to change, whereas they judged both mental dispositional and mental ability properties as changeable, but they distinguished the mental dispositional from the mental ability in terms of the means for modification ; even when the children were given a small amount of information suggesting either that the target property was innate or that it was due to a lack of specific experience, they did not change their judgments.
2. Studies dealing with children's understanding of psychogenic bodily reactions indicated that not only 5-year-olds but also 7-year-olds had difficulty with recognizing that psychological states could lead a person to have bodily physical reactions, though they recognized that a psychological event could cause a behavioral outcome and that a physical event could cause a physical health outcome.

Report

(5 results)
  • 2005 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report Summary
  • 2004 Annual Research Report
  • 2003 Annual Research Report
  • 2002 Annual Research Report
  • Research Products

    (2 results)

All 2004

All Journal Article (2 results)

  • [Journal Article] Vitalistic causality young children's naive biology2004

    • Author(s)
      Kayoko Inagaki, Giyoo Hatano
    • Journal Title

      Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8・8

      Pages: 356-362

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2005 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Vitalistic causality in young children's naive biology2004

    • Author(s)
      Kayoko Inagaki, Giyoo Hatano
    • Journal Title

      Trends in Cognitive Sciences Vol.8, No.8

      Pages: 356-362

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2005 Final Research Report Summary

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Published: 2002-04-01   Modified: 2016-04-21  

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