Children's and Adults’ Judgments of the Certainty of Deductive Inferences, Inductive Inferences, and Guesses
Abstract
Children and adults rated their own certainty following inductive inferences, deductive inferences, and guesses. Beginning in kindergarten, participants rated deductions as more certain than weak inductions or guesses. Deductions were rated as more certain than strong inductions beginning in Grade 3, and fourth-grade children and adults differentiated strong inductions, weak inductions, and informed guesses from pure guesses. By Grade 3, participants also gave different types of explanations for their deductions and inductions. These results are discussed in relation to children's concepts of cognitive processes, logical reasoning, and epistemological development.
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Children at the age of 6 to 8 already demonstrate the ability for logic reasoning.
“Children at the age of 6 to 8 already demonstrate the ability for logic reasoning [34, 35].”
From Medical decision-making in children and adolescents: developmental and neuroscientific aspects (2017) · cites this paper as [35]
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Medical decision-making in children and adolescents: developmental and neuroscientific aspects
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“Children at the age of 6 to 8 already demonstrate the ability for logic reasoning [34, 35].”
Background
- Authors
- Pillow, B. H., Pearson, R. M., Hecht, M., & Bremer, A.
- Affiliations
- Northern Illinois University (US)
- ORCID
- Pillow, Bradford H.
- Venue
- The Journal of Genetic Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2010-07-12
- Volume
- 171
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 203-217
- ISSN
- 0022-1325 (ISSN-L)
- 1940-0896
- OpenAlex
- W2035563138
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Genetic Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Strategies and Epistemologies
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Keywords
- deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, GUESS, confidence judgments, epistemological development, logical reasoning, cognitive processes, age differences
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Age Factors, Child, Psychology, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Judgment, Logic, Male, Probability Learning, Problem Solving, Personal Construct Theory, Young Adult
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