Lorenz Revisited

Abstract

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Cognitive “babyness”: Developmental differences in the power of young children's supernatural thinking to influence positive and negative affect.

“…Although based on the Bjorklund et al (2010) study, no differences in patterns between nations were predicted (and we acknowledge that testing more divergent samples would provide greater generalizability), research has reported cognitive and social-cognitive differences among American and European children. For example, in a series of studies by Carr, Kurtz, and their colleagues, German children were more strategic on memory tasks than American children, and, unlike American children (e.g., Dweck & Leggett, 1988), were more likely to attribute academic outcomes to ability rather than effort (Carr, Kurtz, Schneider, Turner, & Borkowski, 1989;Kurtz, Schneider, Schneider, Carr, Borkowski, & Rellinger, 1990).…”

“…Evidence of a positive bias toward expressions of immature cognition was recently reported by Bjorklund, Hernández Blasi, and Periss (2010). Adult participants read two brief vignettes, one of a child expressing immature cognition, typical of preschool children, and the other of a same-age child expressing mature cognition.…”

“…Although the patterns reported by Bjorklund et al (2010) were robust-found for college students, parents of young children, men and women, and in two countries-an interesting question concerns when such a pattern is observed in development. In the current studies, American (Study 1) and Spanish (Study 2) children and adolescents (ages 10 to 17 years) were tested using a procedure identical to that used by Bjorklund et al with adults. In an attempt to replicate the original studies with adults, younger and older adolescents living in both Spain and the United States were presented with two pairs of vignettes, one vignette in each pair depicting a child expressing mature cognition and one depicting a child expressing immature cognition.…”

“…If scientific geniuses such as Newton, Copernicus, and Kepler could believe in angels, astrology, and alchemy, such thinking, by itself, can hardly qualify as a form of immature cognition. Bjorklund et al (2010) suggested that adults' biases toward supernatural thinking may predispose them to perceive some immature forms of it, when expressed by children, positively in part because it represents an intuitive form of thinking that characterizes their own cognition. In contrast, immature natural cognition (e.g., overestimating one's abilities, failure to inhibit a response, poor theory of mind) simply reflects "poor thinking" and does not necessarily have endearing characteristics.…”

“…We continue to use the terminology introduced by Bjorklund et al (2010), describing the two types of immature vignettes as "supernatural" and "natural," although we realize that other terms could also apply. A more general terminology may be "intuitive" versus "nonintuitive," although we believe that such terms are not sufficiently specific to describe the distinction between the two types of vignettes.…”