When Do Children Exhibit a “Yes” Bias?

Abstract

This study investigated whether one hundred and thirty-five 3- to 6-year-old children exhibit a yes bias to various yes-no questions and whether their knowledge status affects the production of a yes bias. Three-year-olds exhibited a yes bias to all yes-no questions such as preference-object and knowledge-object questions pertaining to objects, and knowledge-face questions pertaining to facial expressions. Four-year-olds tended to say "yes" only to knowledge-object questions. Five-year-olds did not show any strong response tendency. Six-year-olds exhibited a nay-saying bias to knowledge-face questions. Also, 3-year-olds could indicate the correct option when asked questions with 2 response options. It suggested that 3-year-olds tended to inappropriately say "yes" to yes-no questions, although they knew the answers to the questions. The mechanism of a yes bias was discussed.

Do young and old preschoolers exhibit response bias due to different mechanisms? Investigating children’s response time

“…1016/j.jecp.2011.04.012 questions pertaining to various entities such as objects, children's preference for objects, and facial expressions) (e.g., Fritzley & Lee, 2003;, 2010b. These studies found that younger preschoolers consistently exhibited a strong yes bias, but older preschoolers either did or did not exhibit any response bias (Fritzley & Lee, 2003;Okanda & Itakura, 2007, 2010bOkanda, Somogyi, & Itakura, 2011). Given these results, researchers suggested that yes-no questions are not suitable for younger preschoolers (Fritzley & Lee, 2003) or both younger and older preschoolers (Okanda & Itakura, 2010b).…”

“…These studies found that younger preschoolers consistently exhibited a strong yes bias, but older preschoolers either did or did not exhibit any response bias (Fritzley & Lee, 2003;Okanda & Itakura, 2007, 2010bOkanda, Somogyi, & Itakura, 2011). Given these results, researchers suggested that yes-no questions are not suitable for younger preschoolers (Fritzley & Lee, 2003) or both younger and older preschoolers (Okanda & Itakura, 2010b). However, it might not be sufficient to simply avoid using yes-no questions in developmental psychology experiments involving preschoolers; we need to understand why children exhibit these response biases so that suitable questions can be used in future studies with children in this age group.…”

“…They noted that cognitive abilities such as inhibitory control abilities and language skills could contribute to younger preschoolers' tendencies to exhibit a yes bias (see also Moriguchi, Okanda, & Itakura, 2008;Okanda & Itakura, 2007): young preschoolers might exhibit a yes bias automatically because they cannot inhibit a ''yes'' response or because they do not understand the context of the questions. For older preschoolers, Okanda and Itakura (2010b) suggested that there are more social reasons for choosing ''yes'' or ''no'' responses. In this study, we examined children's response latency to yes-no questions to provide support for the idea that younger and older preschoolers exhibit a yes bias due to different mechanisms. We hypothesized that if young preschoolers' responses are automatic, they should answer questions immediately and their response latencies should be shorter than those of older preschoolers.…”

“…However, few studies have investigated factors that lead to response biases in children. Okanda and Itakura (2010b) proposed that younger and older preschoolers might exhibit response biases due to different mechanisms. They noted that cognitive abilities such as inhibitory control abilities and language skills could contribute to younger preschoolers' tendencies to exhibit a yes bias (see also Moriguchi, Okanda, & Itakura, 2008;Okanda & Itakura, 2007): young preschoolers might exhibit a yes bias automatically because they cannot inhibit a ''yes'' response or because they do not understand the context of the questions.…”

Over-imitation is better explained by norm learning than by distorted causal learning

“…We therefore do not ask children to justify behaviour they have already performed, instead ask them to justify their intended actions before they perform them. Thirdly, children's verbal responses may show systematic biases such as answer-switching [35] or a 'yes' bias [36]. We control this possibility by comparing children's justifications for the necessary and unnecessary actions, which are otherwise equivalent.…”