Browsing by Author "Gelman, Susan A."
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- ItemOpen AccessChildren's sensitivity to the knowledge expressed in pedagogical and nonpedagogical contexts(American Psychological Association, 2013-03) Gelman, Susan A.; Ware, Elizabeth A.; Manczak, Erika M.; Graham, SusanThe present studies test 2 hypotheses: (1) that pedagogical contexts especially convey generic information (Csibra & Gergely, 2009) and (2) that young children are sensitive to this aspect of pedagogy. We examined generic language (e.g., "Elephants live in Africa") in 3 studies, focusing on informational versus narrative children's books (Study 1), the language of 6-year-old children and adults assuming either a pedagogical (teacher) or non-pedagogical (friend) role (Study 2), and the language of 5-year-old children and adults speaking to either an ignorant alien (pedagogical context) or a peer (nonpedagogical context; Study 3). Results suggest that generics are more frequent in informational than narrative texts. Furthermore, both adults and young children provide more generic language in pedagogical contexts and when assuming a pedagogical role. Together, the studies demonstrate that pedagogical contexts are distinctive in conveying generic information and that children are sensitive to this aspect of the language input. We suggest that generic knowledge is more useful in making predictions about the future and thus more highly valued during instruction.
- ItemOpen AccessGenerics license 30-month-olds' inferences about the atypical properties of novel kinds(American Psychological Association, 2016-01) Graham, Susan; Gelman, Susan A.; Clarke, JessicaWe examined whether the distinction between generic and nongeneric language provides toddlers with a rapid and efficient means to learn about kinds. In Experiment 1, we examined 30-month-olds' willingness to extend atypical properties to members of an unfamiliar category when the properties were introduced in 1 of 3 ways: (a) using a generic noun phrase ("Blicks drink ketchup"); (b) using a nongeneric noun phrase ("These blicks drink ketchup"); and (c) using an attentional phrase ("Look at this"). Hearing a generic noun phrase boosted toddlers' extension of properties to both the model exemplars and to novel members of the same category, relative to when a property had been introduced with a nongeneric noun phrase or an attentional phrase. In Experiment 2, properties were introduced with a generic noun phrase, and toddlers extended novel properties to members of the same-category, but not to an out-of-category object. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that generics highlight the stability of a feature and foster generalization of the property to novel within-category exemplars.
- ItemOpen AccessGenerics license 30-month-olds' inferences about the atypical properties of novel kinds(American Psychological Association, 2016-08) Graham, Susan; Gelman, Susan A.; Clarke, JessicaWe examined whether the distinction between generic and nongeneric language provides toddlers with a rapid and efficient means to learn about kinds. In Experiment 1, we examined 30-month-olds' willingness to extend atypical properties to members of an unfamiliar category when the properties were introduced in 1 of 3 ways: (a) using a generic noun phrase ("Blicks drink ketchup"); (b) using a nongeneric noun phrase ("These blicks drink ketchup"); and (c) using an attentional phrase ("Look at this"). Hearing a generic noun phrase boosted toddlers' extension of properties to both the model exemplars and to novel members of the same category, relative to when a property had been introduced with a nongeneric noun phrase or an attentional phrase. In Experiment 2, properties were introduced with a generic noun phrase, and toddlers extended novel properties to members of the same-category, but not to an out-of-category object. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that generics highlight the stability of a feature and foster generalization of the property to novel within-category exemplars. (PsycINFO Database Record
- ItemOpen AccessTwo-year-olds use the generic/nongeneric distinction to guide their inferences about novel kinds(Society for Research In Child Development, 2011-03) Graham, Susan; Nayer, Samantha L.; Gelman, Susan A.These studies investigated two hundred and forty-four 24- and 30-month-olds' sensitivity to generic versus non-generic language when acquiring knowledge about novel kinds. Toddlers were administered an inductive inference task, during which they heard a generic noun phrase (e.g., "Blicks drink milk") or a non-generic noun phrase (e.g., "This blick drinks milk") paired with an action (e.g., drinking) modelled on an object. They were then provided with the model and a non-model exemplar and asked to imitate the action. After hearing non-generic phrases, 30-month-olds, but not 24-month-olds, imitated more often with the model than with the non-model exemplar. In contrast, after hearing generic phrases, 30-month-olds imitated equally often with both exemplars. These results suggest that 30-month-olds use the generic/non-generic distinction to guide their inferences about novel kinds.