Friday, January 27, 2023
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Social & Behavioral Science

Younger children tend to make more informed decisions

July 19, 2018
in Social & Behavioral Science
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A new study from the University of Waterloo has found that in some ways, the older you get the worse your decision making becomes.

The study established that younger children seem to make slightly better decisions than older children. The older children get, the more they tend to ignore some of the information available to them when making judgements, which though efficient can also lead to mistakes.

"It is good for us to know that kids at different ages don't necessarily treat all information similarly when we set out to teach them new things," said Stephanie Denison, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, who co-authored the study with PhD student Samantha Gualtieri. "Children maybe aren't taking all the information we are giving them at face value. They may be thinking about it in their own way and using the data in the way they think makes the most sense, which is important for parents and teachers to understand," says Gualtieri.

"Our research shows that children around four-years-old are starting to use these shortcuts, but by six-years of age they're using them at levels as high as adults."

In two experiments, 288 children were assessed to determine whether they used numerical, social, or both types of information when making judgments. Ninety-five per cent of the six-year-olds depended on only the social information to make a judgement compared to 70 per cent of five-year-olds and 45 per cent of four-year-olds. The younger children were more likely to take both pieces of information into account.

The researchers do not deem older children's overuse of social as negative, it simply shows how children weigh information when making decisions. Adults also tend to not use all the information at their disposal when making judgments, possibly because it is time-consuming and requires lots of mental energy.

"So, while using these shortcuts is actually very efficient, we need to be aware that they can introduce errors," said Denison. "Therefore, sometimes we should be thinking harder and taking the time to put together all of the information.

"How much time you spend on processing information might depend on the importance of the judgement or the decision you're making. So, thinking about where you want to spend the time is really important."

###

The study, The development of the representativeness heuristic in young children, was published recently in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

Media Contact

Ryon Jones
[email protected]
519-888-4567 x30031
@uWaterlooNews

http://www.uwaterloo.ca/

       http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.05.006 
Share25Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • Hydrogen Peroxide from Tea and Coffee Residue: New Pathway to Sustainability

    Hydrogen peroxide from tea and coffee residue: New pathway to sustainability

    83 shares
    Share 33 Tweet 21
  • Null results research now published by major behavioral medicine journal

    525 shares
    Share 210 Tweet 131
  • Birds win in coffee landscapes with forests and shade trees

    73 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • Constructor University professor publishes outstanding psychological research paper

    74 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19
  • Chemotherapy in the afternoon dramatically improves treatment outcomes in female lymphoma patients

    67 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Danish quantum physicists make nanoscopic advance of colossal significance

    64 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

Hydrogen peroxide from tea and coffee residue: New pathway to sustainability

Regulating immunological memory may help immune system fight disease, MU study finds

Constructor University professor publishes outstanding psychological research paper

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 205 other subscribers

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In