{"title":"A key to innovation: When do children begin to recognize and manufacture solutions to future problems?","authors":"Zoe Ockerby, Jonathan Redshaw, Thomas Suddendorf","doi":"10.1037/dev0001926","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Innovation in children is typically studied by examining their capacity to independently create tools to solve problems. However, it has been argued that innovating requires more than creative problem-solving; it is essential that the future utility of a solution is recognized. Here, we examined children's capacity to recognize and construct a tool for future uses. Experiment 1 presented fifty-five 3- to 5-year-olds (28 girls) with a future-directed variation of a task in which children had to make a hook to solve a problem. When given a tool construction opportunity in anticipation of returning to the task, only 5-year-olds chose to make a hook-shaped tool more often than expected by chance. Experiment 2a assessed ninety-two 3- to 7-year-olds' (48 girls) capacity to construct a tool with both present and future utility in mind. Specifically, they needed to make a tool long enough to not only poke a ball from a short tube in the present but also poke a ball from a longer tube in the future. Older children tended to construct longer tools and were more likely to do so in this situation than in a follow-up control study (2b, <i>N</i> = 89, 41 girls) where the future- and present-task tubes were identical. This pattern suggests that older children had the future task in mind when making their tools. Children's propensity to construct longer tools in Experiment 2a was associated with their capacity to prepare for two alternative possibilities on a secondary task, suggesting performance reflects emerging future-oriented cognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001926","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Innovation in children is typically studied by examining their capacity to independently create tools to solve problems. However, it has been argued that innovating requires more than creative problem-solving; it is essential that the future utility of a solution is recognized. Here, we examined children's capacity to recognize and construct a tool for future uses. Experiment 1 presented fifty-five 3- to 5-year-olds (28 girls) with a future-directed variation of a task in which children had to make a hook to solve a problem. When given a tool construction opportunity in anticipation of returning to the task, only 5-year-olds chose to make a hook-shaped tool more often than expected by chance. Experiment 2a assessed ninety-two 3- to 7-year-olds' (48 girls) capacity to construct a tool with both present and future utility in mind. Specifically, they needed to make a tool long enough to not only poke a ball from a short tube in the present but also poke a ball from a longer tube in the future. Older children tended to construct longer tools and were more likely to do so in this situation than in a follow-up control study (2b, N = 89, 41 girls) where the future- and present-task tubes were identical. This pattern suggests that older children had the future task in mind when making their tools. Children's propensity to construct longer tools in Experiment 2a was associated with their capacity to prepare for two alternative possibilities on a secondary task, suggesting performance reflects emerging future-oriented cognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
儿童的创新通常是通过检查他们独立创造工具来解决问题的能力来研究的。然而，有人认为创新需要的不仅仅是创造性地解决问题；认识到解决方案的未来效用是至关重要的。在这里，我们检查了儿童识别和构建未来使用工具的能力。实验1向55名3到5岁的儿童（28名女孩）提供了一个面向未来的任务，在这个任务中，孩子们必须制作一个钩子来解决一个问题。当给5岁的孩子一个制作工具的机会，让他们期待着回到任务中来，只有5岁的孩子选择制作一个钩子形状的工具的几率比预期的要高。实验2a评估了92名3到7岁的孩子（48名女孩）在考虑到现在和未来的实用性的情况下构建工具的能力。具体来说，他们需要制造一种足够长的工具，不仅可以从现在的短管中戳出一个球，还可以从将来的长管中戳出一个球。在这种情况下，年龄较大的孩子倾向于构建更长的工具，并且比在后续对照研究（2b, N = 89,41名女孩）中更有可能这样做，在后续对照研究中，未来和现在的任务管是相同的。这种模式表明，年龄较大的孩子在制作工具时，脑子里有未来的任务。在实验2a中，儿童构造较长的工具的倾向与他们在次要任务中为两种可能的可能性做准备的能力有关，这表明表现反映了新兴的面向未来的认知。（PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA，版权所有）。
期刊介绍：
Developmental Psychology ® publishes articles that significantly advance knowledge and theory about development across the life span. The journal focuses on seminal empirical contributions. The journal occasionally publishes exceptionally strong scholarly reviews and theoretical or methodological articles. Studies of any aspect of psychological development are appropriate, as are studies of the biological, social, and cultural factors that affect development. The journal welcomes not only laboratory-based experimental studies but studies employing other rigorous methodologies, such as ethnographies, field research, and secondary analyses of large data sets. We especially seek submissions in new areas of inquiry and submissions that will address contradictory findings or controversies in the field as well as the generalizability of extant findings in new populations. Although most articles in this journal address human development, studies of other species are appropriate if they have important implications for human development. Submissions can consist of single manuscripts, proposed sections, or short reports.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
