Less is more: The availability heuristic in early childhood.
This study examined whether young children are influenced by the subjective experience associated with an easy or difficult recall when making memory decisions. Seventy-one children, aged 4, 6, and 8 years, were asked to generate either a small (easy condition) or large (hard condition) number of first names. Statistical analyses revealed that participants in the hard condition were more likely to infer that they did not know many names than participants in the easy condition, contrary to what would be expected if children based their memory judgement on the objective number of recalled items. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that children as young as 4 years old rely on the subjective experience of ease to regulate their decision-making processes. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
['Geurten|Marie|M|', 'Willems|Sylvie|S|', 'Germain|Sophie|S|', 'Meulemans|Thierry|T|']
D002648:Child D002657:Child Development D002675:Child, Preschool D003657:Decision Making D005260:Female D000066506:Heuristics D006801:Humans D008297:Male D011939:Mental Recall D000067489:Metacognition
availability heuristic children judgement decision-making metacognition