Children and Adults Prefer Learning About Novel Objects but Having Familiar Ones

• In Event: The Dynamics of Children’s Information Search

Abstract

Children and infants are often drawn to novel stimuli (e.g. Mendel, 1965; Smock & Holt, 1962). This preference to explore novelty may arise from a drive to acquire new information. Information gain theories of curiosity claim that people spend cognitive resources on novel items that provide the best opportunities for learning, and avoid spending resources on familiar items that provide little or no new information (see Lowenstein, 1994; Murayama et al., 2019). Here we investigated whether preferences for novelty diminish, or even reverse, when information seeking is not the main goal and whether this changes or remains relatively stable with age. Choosing which objects to acquire involves greater commitment and risk than deciding which objects to learn about, so we might prefer to have familiar items that carry little risk. We investigated this possibility in three experiments.
In Experiment 1, 4-7-year-olds (N=90) were shown pairs of items, where one item was typical (e.g., a four-legged chair) and described as common, and the other was atypical (e.g., a ten-legged chair) and described as uncommon. Across between-subjects conditions, children were either asked which item they wanted to have, or which they wanted to learn about. Children’s judgments differed across these conditions, p<.001. Overall, they mostly wanted to have the typical items but to learn about the atypical ones (see Figure 1).
In Experiment 2, we investigated if children reached these judgements by drawing on their existing knowledge and not from considering the descriptions of the items as common or rare. The same pictures were shown to 4-7-year-olds (N=242) and adults (N=253), without mentioning whether the items were common. Children and adults were more likely to choose the atypical item in the learn condition than the have condition (ps<.001), a pattern which increased with children’s age (p<.001; see Figure 2).
In Experiment 3, we asked children and adults which items they wanted to have or which items they wanted to try using. Trying an object is similar to having an object as it provides an opportunity to physically interact with the object. Trying an object is also similar to learning as it provides the opportunity to gain information without taking on substantial risk. Four- to six-year-olds (N = 167) chose differently across conditions (p<.001) and mostly wanted to have typical items (p=.001) but were at chance when choosing which object to try (p=.874). Adults (N=212) mostly wanted to have typical items for both judgements (ps<.001). These findings again show that children’s and adults’ preferences for novelty depend on their goals.
Together, our findings suggest that novelty preferences persist when seeking information and reverse when seeking resources. We propose that these preferences are motivated by people optimizing learning new information and minimizing risks when committing to resources. Similar patterns of preferences for children and adults indicates that these preferences emerge from an early age and remain across development.

Authors

• Claudia Sehl, University of Waterloo
  Presenting Author

• Ori Friedman, University of Waterloo
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie Denison, University of Waterloo
  Non-Presenting Author