Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Abstract
Object use is a ubiquitous characteristic of the human species, and learning how objects function is a fundamental part of human development. This research examines the role that intentionality plays in children's understanding of causal relationships during imitation learning of object use. In Studies 1, 2, and 3, 2- to 5-year-olds observed demonstrations in which causally irrelevant and causally relevant actions were performed to achieve a desired goal of retrieving toys from within containers. Irrelevant actions were performed either intentionally ("There!") or accidentally ("Whoops! I didn't mean to do that!"). Study 1 found that 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds, but not 2-year-olds, were less likely to imitate causally irrelevant actions performed accidentally than those performed intentionally. This suggests that older children used intentionality to guide causal inference, perceiving intentional actions as causally effective and accidental actions as causally ineffective. Study 2 foun d that the intentionality of the demonstrator's actions had an enduring effect - after watching a single demonstration, children persisted in performing intentional irrelevant actions and continued to ignore accidental irrelevant actions when given three successive opportunities to complete the task. Study 3 examined how lack of knowledge about the task goal prior to the demonstrations affected imitation and found that children without explicit verbal instruction of the toy-retrieval goal imitated irrelevant actions to a greater degree than children from Study 1, who were informed of the goal throughout the experiment. Study 4 progressed beyond irrelevant actions to investigate the effect of intentionality on 3- to 5-year-olds' imitation of relevant actions.
Extent
ix, 100 p. : ill. (some col.)
Recommended Citation
Gardiner, Amy K., "Preschoolers' use of intentionality in understanding causal structure of objects during imitation learning" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019. 370.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_6/370
Identifier
FADT3183126
Comments
by Amy K. Gardiner.|Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011.|Includes bibliography.|Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.|by Amy K. Gardiner.