TY - JOUR
T1 - Children's performance on a false-belief task is impaired by activation of an evolutionarily-canalized response system
AU - Keenan, Thomas
AU - Ellis, Bruce J.
PY - 2003/7
Y1 - 2003/7
N2 - We examine whether children's performance on a false-belief task is impaired by task content that activates an early-developing, prepotent motivational system: predator-avoidance. In two studies (N=46 and N=37), children aged 3-4 years completed variants of a false-belief task that involved predator-avoidance, playmate-avoidance, prey-seeking, and playmate-seeking, respectively. The proportion of correct answers on the playmate-avoidance task (Study 1: 52%; Study 2: 51%) was significantly greater than the proportion of correct answers on the analogous predator-avoidance task (Study 1: 28%; Study 2: 22%). This difference was not an artifact of children generally performing better on playmate stories than on predator-prey stories. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that activation of the predator-avoidance system generates prepotent response patterns that pre-empt full consideration of the mental states of the prey characters in false-belief stories.
AB - We examine whether children's performance on a false-belief task is impaired by task content that activates an early-developing, prepotent motivational system: predator-avoidance. In two studies (N=46 and N=37), children aged 3-4 years completed variants of a false-belief task that involved predator-avoidance, playmate-avoidance, prey-seeking, and playmate-seeking, respectively. The proportion of correct answers on the playmate-avoidance task (Study 1: 52%; Study 2: 51%) was significantly greater than the proportion of correct answers on the analogous predator-avoidance task (Study 1: 28%; Study 2: 22%). This difference was not an artifact of children generally performing better on playmate stories than on predator-prey stories. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that activation of the predator-avoidance system generates prepotent response patterns that pre-empt full consideration of the mental states of the prey characters in false-belief stories.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0022-0965(03)00072-9
DO - 10.1016/S0022-0965(03)00072-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 12810037
AN - SCOPUS:0038037033
SN - 0022-0965
VL - 85
SP - 236
EP - 256
JO - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
JF - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
IS - 3
ER -