Three experiments were carried out to determine whether there is a lag in predicting surprise relative to false belief. All three experiments used "backwards reasoning" tasks. The findings were that: (a) there is a lag in predicting surprise relative to false belief; (b) by 5 or 6 years of age children claims that one will be surprised when they gain knowledge of that which they were previously ignorant or when they discover that they had previously held a false belief; (c) by 7 to 9 years of age they understand that surprise will more likely result from false beliefs rather than mere ignorance; and (d) children's difficulty understanding surprise as specifically belief-based does not likely stem from information-processing limitations. It is argued that the lag likely results because children must build a new concept of surprise (e.g., from desire- to belief-based). (A)
Samenvatting