Children's understanding of the distinction between intentions and desires.

Full Abstract

Much of the previous research on children's understanding of intentions confounded intentions with desires. Intentions and desires are different, in that a desire can be satisfied in a number of ways, but an intention must be satisfied by carrying out the intended action. Children 3 through 7 years of age and adults were presented with situations in which intentions were satisfied but desires were not, or vice versa, in a story-comprehension task (N = 71) and a target-hitting game (N = 45). Although 3- and 4-year-olds were unable to differentiate desires and intentions consistently, 5- and 7-year-olds often matched the adult pattern. Younger children's difficulties in understanding intentions are discussed in terms of their use of a desire-outcome matching strategy and the representational complexities of intentions.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Schult, Carolyn A (CA);

Affiliation: Psychology Department, Indiana University South Bend, 46634, USA. cschult(-atsign-)iusb.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Child development (Child Dev), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2002 Nov-Dec; vol 73 (issue 6) : pp 1727-47

Dates: Created 2002/12/18; Completed 2003/04/03; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12487490, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Child
Child Behavior - psychology
Child, Preschool
Cognition

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.