Elsevier

Cognitive Development

Volume 24, Issue 3, July–September 2009, Pages 284-292
Cognitive Development

Developmental changes in judgments of authentic objects

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2009.06.003Get rights and content

Abstract

This study examined the development of an understanding of authenticity among 112 children (preschoolers, kindergarten, 1st graders, and 4th graders) and 119 college students. Participants were presented with pairs of photographs depicting authentic and non-authentic objects and asked to pick which one belongs in a museum and which one they would want to have. Results suggest that both children and adults recognize the special nature of authentic objects by reporting that they belong in a museum. However, this belief broadens with age, at first just for famous associations (preschool), then also for original creations (kindergarten), and finally for personal associations as well (4th grade). At all ages, an object's authentic nature is distinct from its desirability. Thus, from an early age, children appear to understand that the historical path of an authentic object affects its nature. This work demonstrates the importance of non-obvious properties in children's concepts. For preschool as well as older children, history (a non-visible property) adds meaning beyond the material or functional worth of an object.

Section snippets

Developmental changes in judgments of authentic objects

For adults, objects can become special by virtue of their history: the first edition of a book, a dress worn by Princess Diana, your grandmother's engagement ring—all are judged differently when one knows their origins. Placing value on authentic things (those that have an historical link to a person, event, time, or place of some significance) often entails overlooking outward appearances and focusing instead on non-obvious qualities. Two items can be otherwise identical but treated very

Participants

Participants included preschoolers (N = 43, mean age = 4–1, SD = 4.44 months; 22 girls, 21 boys), kindergartners (N = 24, mean age = 5–7, SD = 4.68 months; 11 girls, 13 boys), 1st graders (N = 22, mean age = 7–3, SD = 4.32 months; 11 girls, 11 boys), 4th graders (N = 23, mean age = 10–1, SD = 4.08 months; 15 girls, 8 boys), and college undergraduates (N = 119, mean age = 19; 62 women, 57 men). One preschool-aged child was eliminated because she answered both warm-up items incorrectly on the Museum task.

Preschool and

Museum knowledge

We coded children's responses to the museum questions in two respects: (a) whether they reported ever having been to a museum (coded as “yes” if the child indicated they had visited a museum, including when the younger children pointed to one of the pictures of museums we provided), and (b) whether they were able to accurately describe a museum and/or its contents. Responses were classified into 7 categories: original creations, famous associations, personal associations, items that are “old”

Discussion

By 3–4 years of age, children have a nascent understanding that the historical path of an authentic object affects its nature, even in the absence of visible evidence. Children appear to recognize the special nature of authentic objects by reporting that objects that are original, or that belong to a famous individual, belong in a museum. This result cannot be attributed to the overall desirability of the objects, for three reasons: (1) the famous associations were physically equivalent to the

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by an NSF graduate research fellowship to the first author and NICHD grant HD-36043 to the second author. We are grateful to the parents, teachers, and children at the University of Michigan Children's Centers and the Charles Brown School of El Dorado, California, for participating in this research.

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