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Do young children understand relative value comparisons?

ABSTRACT: Many forms of judgments, such as those used in economic games or measures of social comparison, require understanding relative value, as well as the more complex ability to make comparisons between relative values. To examine whether young children can accurately compare relative values, we presented children 4 to 7 years with simple judgments of relative value in two scenarios. Children then were asked to compare the relative values in the two scenarios. Results show that even the youngest children downgraded evaluations of a reward when another has a larger amount, indicating the ability to make relative value judgments. When asked to compare relative values however, only the oldest children were able to make these comparisons consistently. We then extended this analysis to economic game performance. Specifically, previous results using economic games suggest that younger children are more generous than older ones. We replicate this result, and then show that a simple change in procedure, based on the initial study, is sufficient to change young children's choices. Our results strongly suggest that conclusions regarding young children's pro-social motives based on relative value comparisons should be viewed cautiously.

SUBMITTER: Benenson JF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4398488 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Do young children understand relative value comparisons?

Benenson Joyce F JF Markovits Henry H Whitmore Bjorn B Van Christophe C Margolius Sara S Wrangham Richard W RW

PloS one 20150415 4

Many forms of judgments, such as those used in economic games or measures of social comparison, require understanding relative value, as well as the more complex ability to make comparisons between relative values. To examine whether young children can accurately compare relative values, we presented children 4 to 7 years with simple judgments of relative value in two scenarios. Children then were asked to compare the relative values in the two scenarios. Results show that even the youngest chil ...[more]

PMID: 25875949

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Project description:Importance:Enhanced selective attention toward nonsocial objects and impaired attention to social stimuli constitute key clinical features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet, the mechanisms associated with atypical selective attention in ASD are poorly understood, which limits the development of more effective interventions. In typically developing individuals, selective attention to social and nonsocial stimuli is associated with the informational value of the stimuli, which is typically learned over the course of repeated interactions with the stimuli. Objective:To examine value learning (VL) of social and nonsocial stimuli and its association with selective attention in preschoolers with and without ASD. Design, Setting, and Participants:This case-control study compared children with ASD vs children with developmental delay (DD) and children with typical development (TD) recruited between March 3, 2017, and June 13, 2018, at a university-based research laboratory. Participants were preschoolers with ASD, DD, or TD. Main Outcomes and Measures:Procedure consisted of an eye-tracking gaze-contingent VL task involving social (faces) and nonsocial (fractals) stimuli and consisting of baseline, training, and choice test phases. Outcome measures were preferential attention to stimuli reinforced (high value) vs not reinforced (low value) during training. The hypotheses were stated before data collection. Results:Included were 115 preschoolers with ASD (n?=?48; mean [SD] age, 38.30 [15.55] months; 37 [77%] boys), DD (n?=?31; mean [SD] age, 45.73 [19.49] months; 19 [61%] boys), or TD (n?=?36; mean [SD] age, 36.53 [12.39] months; 22 [61%] boys). The groups did not differ in sex distribution; participants with ASD or TD had similar chronological age; and participants with ASD or DD had similar verbal IQ and nonverbal IQ. After training, the ASD group showed preference for the high-value nonsocial stimuli (mean proportion, 0.61 [95% CI, 0.56-0.65]; P?<?.001) but not for the high-value social stimuli (mean proportion, 0.51 [95% CI, 0.46-0.56]; P?=?.58). In contrast, the DD and TD groups demonstrated preference for the high-value social stimuli (DD mean proportion, 0.59 [95% CI, 0.54-0.64]; P?=?.001 and TD mean proportion, 0.57 [95% CI, 0.53-0.61]; P?=?.002) but not for the high-value nonsocial stimuli (DD mean proportion, 0.52 [95% CI, 0.44-0.59]; P?=?.64 and TD mean proportion, 0.50 [95% CI, 0.44-0.57]; P?=?.91). Controlling for age and nonverbal IQ, autism severity was positively correlated with enhanced learning in the nonsocial domain (r?=?0.22; P?=?.03) and with poorer learning in the social domain (r?=?-0.26; P?=?.01). Conclusions and Relevance:Increased attention to objects in preschoolers with ASD may be associated with enhanced VL in the nonsocial domain. When paired with poor VL in the social domain, enhanced value-driven attention to objects may play a formative role in the emergence of autism symptoms by altering attentional priorities and thus learning opportunities in affected children.

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Do young children understand relative value comparisons?

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Do young children understand relative value comparisons?

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