Papers by Jedediah Wilfred Papas Allen
Cognitive Development
Wellman and Liu's (2004) ToM scale canonized efforts to generate a developmentally nuanced unders... more Wellman and Liu's (2004) ToM scale canonized efforts to generate a developmentally nuanced understanding of ToM. Further elaboration has come from studies showing some variability in task sequencing across two broad categories of culture (i.e., 'Collectivist', 'Individualist'). The current study contributes to our understanding of ToM by exploring intra-cultural variation in task sequencing for a Turkish sample. The ToM scale, language, and EF tasks were administered to 366 preschoolers. When analyzed as a single group, preschoolers showed a sequence most consistent with Chinese/Iranian samples. However, when children were grouped according to age, 3-year-olds were most similar to the US/Australian samples, 4-year-olds were most similar to Chinese/Iranian samples, and 5-year-olds showed a new sequence where knowledge access was the easiest. The analyzes suggest that EF alone was related to the differences in sequencing. Current findings imply that explaining sequence differences may require considering the interactive effects of culture and cognitive abilities.
Cognitive Development, 2021
Abstract The literature provides many examples of important developments across different social ... more Abstract The literature provides many examples of important developments across different social and cognitive domains at around age 4. Based on an action-based approach to cognition - interactivism - we argue that the changes across different domains can be explained by the development of a domain-general cognitive enabling: reflection. The interactivist model’s claim about reflection was empirically supported on the basis of a novel object-reasoning task called Leaning Blocks (LB) developed by Allen and Bickhard (2018). In the current study, there were three aims. First, to replicate the age 4 shift on the LB task in a non-western sample. Second, to explore the LB task’s relations with Executive Functioning skills (working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control) in order to test alternative interpretations of performance on LB. Third, to diversify the measurement of reflective reasoning with two new tasks based on Piaget’s categorization of mental imagery. The results showed a replication of Allen and Bickhard’s 2018 findings on the LB task and failed to show any relations with the EF measures after controlling for age. One of the new reflection tasks (Candy Monster) showed both the age 4 transition and a correlation with LB (before-and-after controlling for age and the EF measures). Overall, as in Allen and Bickhard (2018) the current study’s results support the interactivist model’s claim that the development of reflection is responsible for the transitions in performance across domains in a “stage-like” fashion.
- Official Conference Proceedings, Mar 1, 1970
Cognitive Development, 2021
Abstract One general perspective on why children over-imitate is that they are learning about the... more Abstract One general perspective on why children over-imitate is that they are learning about the normatively correct way of doing things. If correct, then characteristics of the demonstrator should be relevant. Accordingly, the current study aimed to investigate how the reliability of an adult model influences children’s selectivity of what to imitate in an over-imitation situation (i.e., when some of the actions are causally irrelevant). Seventy-eight preschoolers between 3 and 6 years of age participated at school or in the lab on four tasks. A canonical trust paradigm was used to manipulate model reliability in terms of past accuracy. Children then watched either the reliable or unreliable model open a transparent box using the same relevant and irrelevant actions. In addition, children completed a standard ToM battery. Results indicated that children were more likely to over-imitate from a demonstration given by the reliable versus unreliable model. Children’s ToM abilities were not related to their over-imitation behavior but showed some relations to their trust performance. Overall, the results provide support for a social situational approach to over-imitation that fits most closely with the norm learning perspective.
Human Development, 2017
The current target article provides a robust investigation of the "cultural character" of cogniti... more The current target article provides a robust investigation of the "cultural character" of cognitive development. This investigation has both theoretical and empirical/ methodological aspects. Methodologically, the authors argue for a unit of analysis concerning the development of object knowledge that includes other agents engaged in communication with the infant (i.e., that includes the sociocultural aspects of the infants' developmental environment). We agree with such a position and further illustrate its utility in our own analysis of the phenomenon of overimitation. With respect to the underlying theory, we agree with the arguments against strictly cognitivist frameworks (including those with a more recent "embodied" flavor), as well as the fundamental importance ascribed to sociality and culture. However, for some aspects of the pragmatics of the object paradigm we would suggest narrowing the scope about the necessity of culture for development while in other respects we would like to suggest possible elaborations or extensions. Perhaps most fundamentally, we suggest that the physical versus cultural split that frames the target article discussion is not as metaphysically fundamental as seems to be presupposed. Unit of Analysis A central point of the article is that the appropriate unit of analysis for studying development, including cognitive development, is not circumscribed by purely physical/cognitive considerations. From the pragmatics of the object perspective, children's developing knowledge of objects involves an essential sociocultural context of communication and functionality. Accordingly, the authors argue that the minimum
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2021
This study investigated preschool children's learning from expository and fantastical narrati... more This study investigated preschool children's learning from expository and fantastical narrative books and whether the children would show a tendency for learning from expository books in cases of conflicting information. Over three testing sessions, 71 3- and 5-year-olds were individually read one expository book and one fantastical narrative book. These books contained four types of information units: narrative-only, expository-only, conflicting, and consistent. Children were asked questions that tapped these information units. Results showed a main effect of age, with 5-year-olds learning more information from both books than 3-year-olds. When the information in the narrative and expository books conflicted, 5-year-olds showed a tendency to report information from the expository book, but 3-year-olds were at chance level for prioritizing information learned from either book.
Sociocultural changes in Turkey have led to significant reconfigurations in marital and parental ... more Sociocultural changes in Turkey have led to significant reconfigurations in marital and parental dynamics over the last decade (Kağıtçıbaşı & Ataca, 2005). Accordingly, general marital conflict and parental disagreement have become prevalent causes of family dissolution and children’s adjustment problems (Ulu & Fışıloğlu, 2002). The current study examined the effect of parental child-rearing disagreement (PCD) of married coparents in Turkey on preschool (N = 57, Mage = 4.33, 50.8% girls) and elementary school-aged (N = 41, Mage = 8.15, 51% boys) children’s internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. After controlling for marital satisfaction, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that PCD predicted more parent-reported adjustment problems. Moreover, the effect of PCD was moderated by school level such that the strongest association was for preschoolers’ externalizing behavior problems. Our findings highlight PCD`s unique influence on younger children’s externalizing behaviors above and beyond marital satisfaction. Further, our findings highlight the importance of focusing on child related topics as the specific content of general marital conflict during the preschool year.
Neurotoxicology and Teratology, 2014
To examine the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure and biological sex on adolescent risk-taking ... more To examine the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure and biological sex on adolescent risk-taking while controlling for early environmental risk. Methods: Adolescents (n = 114, mean age = 16) were grouped according to high and low risk-taking propensity as measured by the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Prenatal cocaine exposure was assessed at birth, while environmental risk was assessed at three points during early childhood. Results: A binary regression analysis indicated that males were 3.5 times more likely than females to be high risk-takers. Biological sex and prenatal cocaine exposure interacted such that exposed males were most likely to be high risk-takers while exposed females were the least likely to be high risk-takers. This pattern held after controlling for prenatal alcohol exposure and early environmental risk. Early environmental risk did not predict adolescent risk-taking. Conclusions: These findings complement and extend earlier research demonstrating that prenatal cocaine exposure interacts with biological sex in domains related to inhibitory control, emotion regulation, antisocial behavior, and health risk behaviors during preadolescence.
Synthese, 2020
There is a large body of empirical work that has investigated the relationship between parents' c... more There is a large body of empirical work that has investigated the relationship between parents' child-directed speech and their children's Theory of Mind development. That such a relationship should exist is well motivated from both Theory Theory and Socio-Cultural (SC) perspectives. Despite this general convergence, we argue that theoretical differences between the two perspectives suggests nuanced differences in the expected outcomes of the empirical work. Further, the different ontological commitments of the two approaches have (mis)guided the design, coding, and analysis of existing research and imply different future directions. We discuss five areas of extant research that can be extended and diversified most coherently by adopting a SC framework. Keywords Theory of mind • Folk psychology • Socio-cultural theory • Theory theory • Mental state talk We seek to examine the role that social experience plays in the development of children's ability to reason about the mental perspectives of self and others. This ability, from here on referred to as theory of mind (ToM), is widely recognized as a sociocognitive ability that benefits from children's experience of perspectivally rich talk in meaningful social interaction contexts (e.g., conversations, storytelling, pretend play). One indicator of perspectivally rich talk is the use of mental state terms that describe mental processes that are not directly observable. Two approaches (i.e., theory theory and socio-cultural theory) underscore the importance of child-directed mental state language in theory of mind development. While evidence for the relationship between the richness of child-directed mental state talk and theory of mind has been taken to B Hande Ilgaz
Human Development, 2011
ABSTRACT Witherington (2011, DOI: 10.1159/000326814) argues that the anti-structuralist stance of... more ABSTRACT Witherington (2011, DOI: 10.1159/000326814) argues that the anti-structuralist stance of certain Dynamical Systems (DS) approaches undermines the essential role of emergence for understanding mental phenomena. If structure is intended to include representation, then we agree. We offer a model of representation that is ultimately grounded in the emergence of normativity in systems that are Far From thermodynamic Equilibrium (FFE). A cascade of further emergences provides the essential elements for a fully naturalized account of representation, learning, and development.
Cognitive Development, 2013
This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the a... more This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights
Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2011
The thesis of our commentary is that the framework used to address what are taken by Carey to be ... more The thesis of our commentary is that the framework used to address what are taken by Carey to be the open issues is highly problematic. The presumed necessity of an innate stock of representational primitives fails to account for the emergence of representation out of a nonrepresentational base. This failure manifests itself in problematic ways throughout Carey's book.
Human Development
Nativist and empiricist approaches require foundationalism because they cannot account for the em... more Nativist and empiricist approaches require foundationalism because they cannot account for the emergence of representation. Foundationalism is the assumption of an innate representational base. In turn, foundationalism places limits on the nature of learning as a constructivist process. In contrast, action-based approaches can account for the emergence of representation through (inter)action. In so doing, action-based approaches can pursue an emergent constructivism for learning and development. Despite the theoretical symmetry between nativism and empiricism with respect to foundationalism, there is an asymmetry in nativist and empiricist research programs. Nativism generally ignores constructivist complexity with rich interpretations that non-nativist approaches assume needs to be investigated empirically. Importantly, the problem of a priori assumptions driving rich interpretations is not specific to nativism or looking methodologies. Mindreading as a research program also engage...
Child Development Perspectives, Sep 1, 2011
Abstract—Passive versus active ontologies for modeling the nature of representation impose powerf... more Abstract—Passive versus active ontologies for modeling the nature of representation impose powerful constraints on the conceptual possibilities for the different versions of constructivism. The neoconstructivism outlined by NS Newcombe (2011) is convergent with an active, action-based approach to representation; however, it does not directly address the issue of representational emergence. If cognition is fundamentally emergent from (inter) action, then an emergent constructivist approach to development is necessary to fully ...
Psychology in the Schools
European Journal of Developmental Psychology
Research over several decades has demonstrated that children's ability to wait and delay immediat... more Research over several decades has demonstrated that children's ability to wait and delay immediate gratification in preschool is related to a multitude of developmental outcomes throughout childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood. However, less research has focused on concurrent abilities, characteristics, and contexts related to the waiting behaviour itself. This study seeks to explore some of the cognitive, emotional, behavioural, and socialization correlates of an at-risk (poor inner city) group of preschoolers' ability to wait. The study used a resistance to temptation paradigm in which children were instructed not to peek at a 'forbidden toy' while left alone. As predicted, 4-year-olds' (M = 4.5; SD = 1.2 months) general IQ and emotion knowledge were related to their delay in peeking, with longer delays related to higher scores. Results also indicated an effect of gender such that girls waited longer than boys. Contrary to expectations, there were no effects related to harsh parenting practices or to general environmental risk. Of all the variables investigated, emotion knowledge seemed to be the most important.
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Papers by Jedediah Wilfred Papas Allen