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ORCID
N/A
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Psychology
Degree Type
Master of Science (M.S.)
Year Degree Awarded
2015
Month Degree Awarded
May
Abstract
Developmental studies have revealed that preschool-aged children believe that an agent’s internal properties are more important than its external properties for determining its identity over time. The current study examined the developmental origins of this understanding using a manual-search individuation task with 13-month-old infants. Subjects observed semi-transparent objects that looked and behaved like animate agents placed into box that they could reach but not see into. Across trials infants observed objects with either the same- or different-colored insides placed into the box. We found that infants used internal property differences more than external property differences to determine how many agents were involved in the event. A second experiment confirmed that this effect was specific to the domain of animate entities. These results suggest that infants are biased to see an agent’s ‘insides’ as more important for determining its identity over time than its outside properties.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/6751572
First Advisor
Erik W Cheries
Second Advisor
Neil Berthier
Fourth Advisor
Adrian Staub
Recommended Citation
Taborda, Hernando, "Infants' Agent Individuation: It's what's on the Inside that Counts" (2015). Masters Theses. 255.
https://doi.org/10.7275/6751572
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/255