Vicarious Changes in Children's Preferences: A Reward or a Cognitive Phenomenon?

N

8

Classical Conditioning; Cognitive Development; Cognitive Processes; Early Childhood Education; Imitation; Models; Preschool Children; Research; Social Influences; Socialization

This study compared children's dependence on situational cues by a model to their reliance on the general affective valence of the model, in order to assess the role of each in determining vicarious changes in preference. Subjects were forty 4-year-olds attending a day care center. Among five toys used in pilot testing, a box of clothespins was rated lowest in attractiveness and thus was selected as the target toy for training. Two measures of each child's toy preference were collected in a pretest: rated comparisons of clothespins versus other toys and timed use of clothespins during free play. The children were assigned to one of four modeling treatments (high model valence, low model valence, high affect, low affect or a control group.) Each treatment consisted of an interaction phase, a modeling phase, and a posttest. Results indicated no difference among experimental groups in pretest scores. Analysis of the posttest measures revealed that the children exposed to the model who displayed a high degree of subjective affect while playing with the clothespins significantly increased the ratings of clothespins and the amount of time spent playing with this toy. The model's rewardingness (valence) failed to exert any effect on either dependent measure, and did not interact with model affectivity. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of classical conditioning and cognitive processes in vicarious learning; and the results are seen as supporting the role of cognitive processing. (Author/SB)

1977

ED129444