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The effect of hierarchical levels of categories on children's deductive inferences about inclusion

2005; Wiley; Volume: 40; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00207590444000032

1464-066X

Joane Deneault, Marcelle Ricard,

Cognitive Abilities and Testing

International Journal of PsychologyVolume 40, Issue 2 p. 65-79 Other The effect of hierarchical levels of categories on children's deductive inferences about inclusion Joane Deneault, Corresponding Author Joane Deneault Université de Montréal, CanadaCorrespondence should be addressed to Joane Deneault, Département des sciences de l'éducation, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 allée des Ursulines, CP 3300, Rimouski, Canada, G5L 3A1 E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorMarcelle Ricard, Marcelle Ricard Université de Montréal, CanadaSearch for more papers by this author Joane Deneault, Corresponding Author Joane Deneault Université de Montréal, CanadaCorrespondence should be addressed to Joane Deneault, Département des sciences de l'éducation, Université du Québec à Rimouski, 300 allée des Ursulines, CP 3300, Rimouski, Canada, G5L 3A1 E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorMarcelle Ricard, Marcelle Ricard Université de Montréal, CanadaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 04 December 2009 https://doi.org/10.1080/00207590444000032Citations: 6 Support for this research was provided by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to the second author, and by a doctoral fellowship from the Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l'Aide à la Recherche du Québec to the first author. Portions of this research were presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society in Montreal, Canada, 2000. We are grateful to the children, parents, and staff of the following institutions for their cooperation: École Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes and École Des Ormeaux. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Abstracten Although the hierarchical levels of categories have been recognized as a major factor of variation in categorical reasoning, few studies have examined its effect on the understanding of inclusion. This issue was approached by varying the levels (subordinate, basic, and superordinate) of categories involved in inference tasks assessing 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old children's understanding of transitivity and asymmetry of inclusive relations in the dog hierarchy. Children were administered both a qualitative inference task and a quantitative class-inclusion task, each presenting different hierarchical levels. Results showed that the ability to make qualitative inferences assessing transitivity varied with age. Although children of all ages demonstrated a high rate of success at these inference questions, 7- and 9-year-olds had better performance than 5-year-olds, suggesting that the capacity to understand the transitivity of inclusive relations still develops until at least 7 years. However, the hierarchical levels of categories had no effect on children's performance either in qualitative inferences requiring transitivity understanding or in class-inclusion problems. In contrast, for qualitative inferences assessing asymmetry, children's performance varied with the hierarchical level of the categories involved. Inferring from a superordinate to a basic level category, inferring from a superordinate to a subordinate level category, and inferring from a basic to a subordinate level category appeared as three levels of increasing difficulty. Our analyses also revealed that 7-year-olds were better at grasping the asymmetry in the superordinate-to-basic relation than in any other relation between categories of different hierarchical levels, and that their 9-year-old peers mastered the asymmetric nature of inclusion in both superordinate-to-basic and superordinate-to-subordinate relations. This might indicate that the different levels of difficulty observed are developmentally grounded. Though exploratory, these findings help to clarify the steps through which the child comes to grasp the difficult concepts of inclusion and asymmetry and give some indications on the possible constraints that may affect their acquisition. Abstractfr Reconnu comme un facteur de variation du raisonnement catégoriel, le niveau hiérarchique des catégories a été peu étudié quant à son influence sur la compréhension de l'inclusion. Afin de remédier à cette lacune, la présente étude a comparé les capacités inférentielles d'enfants de 5, 7, et 9 ans dans deux tâches servant à évaluer la compréhension de la transitivité et l'asymétrie des relations inclusives de la hiérarchie des chiens, lorsque le niveau hiérarchique des catégories impliquées varie (subordonné, de base ou surordonné). Les enfants ont complété une tâche d'inférences qualitatives et une tâche de quantification de l'inclusion présentant différents niveaux hiérarchiques. Les résultats montrent que la capacité de faire des inférences qualitatives évaluant la transitivité varie avec l'âge. Même si tous les enfants ont obtenu un haut niveau de succès dans ces questions d'inférences, les enfants de 7 et 9 ans ont mieux réussi que ceux de 5 ans, ce qui donne à penser que la compréhenison de la transitivité des relations inclusives se développerait au moins jusqu'à 7 ans. Par ailleurs, le niveau hiérarchique des catégories n'a pas eu d'effet sur la performance à ces problèmes d'inférences qualitatives requérant une compréhension de la transitivité, ni sur la performance à l'épreuve de quantification. Par contre, dans les inférences qualitatives évaluant l'asymétrie, la performance varie en fonction du niveau hiérarchique des catégories qui y sont impliquées, où la capacité de faire une inférence à partir d'une catégorie surordonnée à une catégorie de niveau de base, à partir d'une catégorie surordonnée à une catégorie subordonnée et enfin, d'une catégorie de base à une catégorie subordonnée constituerait des niveaux de difficulté croissants. Nos analyses indiquent que les enfants de 7 ans comprennent davantage l'asymétrie dans la relation entretenue entre la catégorie surordonnée et la catégorie de niveau de base que dans toute autre relation entre deux catégories de niveaux hiérarchiques différents, tandis que leurs pairs de 9 ans maîtrisent l'asymétrie à la fois dans la relation entre catégorie surordonnée et catégorie de base et dans la relation entre catégorie surordonnée et catégorie subordonnée. De telles données laissent croire que les différents niveaux de difficulté observés seraient de nature développementale. Quoique exploratoires, ces résultats précisent les étapes menant à la saisie des notions d'inclusion et d'asymétrie et fournissent des indices quant aux contraintes susceptibles d'en freiner l'acquisition. Abstractes Si bien se ha reconocido a los niveles jerárquicos de las categorías como un factor muy importante de la variación en el razonamiento categórico, pocos son los estudios que han examinado su efecto en la comprensión de la inclusión. Este tema se trató por medio de la variación de los niveles (subordinado, básico y superior) de las categorías involucradas en tareas de inferencia diseñadas que evalúan la comprensión de la transitividad y la asimetría de las relaciones inclusivas en la jerarquía del perro en niños de 5, 7, y 9 años de edad. Los niños se sometieron a dos tareas que presentaban diferentes niveles jerárquicos: una de inferencia cualitativa y una de cuantificación de la inclusión. Los resultados mostraron que la habilidad para hacer inferencias cualitativas que requieren comprensión de la transitividad varía con la edad. Aunque los niños de todas las edades demostraron una tasa alta de éxito en estas preguntas de inferencia, los de 7 y 9 años se desempeñaron mejor que los de 5, lo cual sugiere que la capacidad para entender la transitividad de las relaciones inclusivas se desarrolla hasta por lo menos los 7 años. Sin embargo, los niveles jerárquicos de las categorías no tuvieron efecto sobre el desempeño de los niños, ni en las pruebas de cuantificación de la inclusión, o en las pruebas de inferencia cualitativa que requerían comprensión de la transitividad. En contraste, para las inferencias cualitativas que evalúan la asimetría, el desempeño de los niños varió en función del nivel jerárquico de las categorías involucradas. La deducción de un nivel de categoría superior a uno básico, la deducción de un nivel superior a uno subordinado y la deducción de un nivel básico a uno subordinado se presentan como tres niveles de dificultad en aumento. El análisis también ha revelado que los niños de 7 años comprendieron mejor la asimetría en la relación superior a básica que en cualquiera otra relación entre las categorías de los diferentes niveles jerárquicos, y que sus pares de 9 años dominaron la naturaleza asimétrica de la inclusión tanto en la relación superior a básica como en la superior a la subordinada. Esto podría sugerir que el desarrollo explica los diferentes niveles de dificultad observados. 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