Young children’s preference for unique owned objects

Gelman, Susan A.; Davidson, Natalie S.

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2016.06.016

Cited by 43 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…year-olds prefer their old stuffed animals and sleep items over new replacements, but do not have this preference with regular toys (Gelman & Davidson, 2016). Also, adults' valuations of an object are enhanced if the object is presented with a historical narrative (e.g., detailing how it was obtained or created); however, this effect is greater for objects that resemble living things than for other objects (Newman, 2018).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Children Value Objects With Distinctive Histories

Pesowski¹,

Friedman²

2019

Preprint

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From ancient objects in museums to souvenirs obtained on vacation, we often value objects for their distinctive histories. The present experiments investigate the developmental origins of people’s feelings that objects with distinctive histories are special. In each of four experiments, 4- to 7-year-olds (total N = 400) saw pairs of identical-looking objects in which one object was new and the other had a history that was either distinctive or mundane. In the first experiment, the histories did not involve people; in the remaining experiments, the histories were personal and related the objects to particular people. Distinctive histories affected children’s valuations of regular objects (all experiments), but not their valuations of stuffed animals. Both older and younger children viewed regular objects with distinctive histories as more special than those with mundane histories. Older children mostly viewed objects with distinctive histories as more special than new objects, and younger children showed similar judgments when judging which object a person cared about more. Together, the findings reveal a novel way that information about the past influences children’s judgments about the present and suggest that young children’s valuations of objects depend on objects’ histories.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Children Value Objects With Distinctive Histories

Pesowski¹,

Friedman²

2019

Preprint

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“…Children may predominantly respect others' ownership rights, but may have limited awareness that they prefer their own belonging over other objects. It is especially likely that children may lack awareness that ownership affects their preferences given that these effects may be fragile for most objects (Gelman et al, 2012;Harbaugh, Krause, & Vesterlund, 2001;Hood et al, 2016;Lucas et al, 2008), and only robust for stuffed animals and sleep-objects (Gelman & Davidson, 2016). As such, it might be interesting to explore whether children would be more likely to appreciate that others will prefer their belongings over other items if asked about such objects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some experiments have found that preschoolers and young children come to prefer objects that were recently assigned to them (Gelman, Manczak, & Noles, 2012;Harbaugh, Krause, & Vesterlund, 2001), though these effects may be fragile (Hood, Weltzien, Marsh, & Kanngiesser, 2016;Lucas, Wagner, & Chow, 2008; also see Hood & Bloom, 2008). However, dramatic evidence that ownership is linked with inflated preferences comes from findings showing that 3year-olds prefer their own visibly-used toys over new replacements (Gelman & Davidson, 2016).…”

Section: Inferring Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using versus liking: Young children use ownership to predict actions but not to infer preferences

Pesowski

Friedman

2018

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

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Three experiments show that young children (N = 384) use ownership to predict actions but not to infer preferences. In Experiment 1, 3- to 6-year-olds considered ownership when predicting actions but did not expect it to trump preferences. In Experiment 2, 4- and 5-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, used ownership to predict actions, and 5-year-olds grasped that an agent would use his or her own property despite preferring someone else's. This experiment also showed that relating an agent to an object interfered with 3- and 4-year-olds' judgments that a more attractive object is preferred. Finally, Experiment 3 found that 3- and 4-year-olds do not believe that owning an object increases regard for it. These findings are informative about the kinds of information children use to predict actions and the inferences they make from ownership. The findings also reveal specificity in how children use ownership to make judgments about others, and suggest that children more closely relate ownership to people's actions than to their desires.

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“…Neutralization of these contaminated items by families and caregivers may be a simple and effective part of the effort to prevent SSI by decreasing the overall bacterial load within the sterile environment of the operating suite. Parents' and doctors' visual evaluation of teddy bear cleanliness and fluffiness may lead to the suggestion that children and families bring a new, clean teddy bear for planned surgeries; however, as demonstrated by Gelman et al [27] in a study of thirty-six 3-year-old children, children prefer their original, worn toy over a new replica.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%