Abstract
This study explored the relations between 5- and 6-year-olds' (N= 40) past social experiences, social knowledge, and interpretation and recall of social situations. Children were read stories depicting a fictional child's behaviors, and path analyses related children's impressions of the story character and story recall to their expectations about social situations and parent reports of their behavioral histories. Children's behavioral histories predicted their social expectations, which predicted their impressions of the character, and their impressions shaped their memories of the character's behaviors. These links, however, varied according to the complexity of social knowledge. The findings suggest that individual differences in children's interpretation and recall of identical events may be partially explained by variations in past experience and background knowledge.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 313-340 |
Number of pages | 28 |
Journal | Journal of Cognition and Development |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health