兒童의 歸因過程의 發達과 그에 影響을 미치는 變因들

Abstract

본 연구는 아동의 년령, 보상의 意味 및 보상의 類型이 그들의 歸因過程 一行動의 原因 추론, 內的 動機 추론, 末年行動의 예언-에 어떤 영향을 미치는가를 밝히고자 하였다. 5세 아동, 7세 아동 및 9세 아동 총 120명에게 그림을 보여 주면서 8개의 이야기를 들려주고, 세가지 歸因果程들을 검토하기 위한 네가지의 질문을 하였다. 實驗結果, 아동의 년령이 증가함에 따라 이야기 주인공의 행동적 원인 추론, 內的 動機의 추론 및 未來行動의 예언의 정확성이 증가하였다. 이 현상은 특히 9세아동에서 현저하게 나타났다. 이야기 주인공이 받는 보상의 意味와 보상의 類型에 따라서도 세가지 歸因過程에서 아동의 추론의 정확성이 달라졌다. 또한 이들 세가지 歸因過程이 서로 관계있음이 드러났으며, 歸因過程에 개입하는 세 科程의 종류와 그 난이도에 따라 歸因過程 發達상에 네 수준이 있음이 밝혀졌다. 5세와 7세아동의 大部分은 처음 두 수준에 있었으며 9세 아동의 大部分은 둘째, 세째 및 네째 수준에 골고루 分布되어 있었다.;The present study was intended to explore the effects of age, interpreted meanings of reward and its type on the children's causal attribution: inference of internal or external causes of a particular behavior, estimation of the degree of internal motives for that behavior, and prediction of the behavior in near future. Age variable was manipulated by the use of three groups, kindergartners, the first and third graders. The interpreted meanings of reward was varied in two aspects, bonus and bribe. The former condition had stories in which a protagonist was given a reward after he performed a certain good behavior. The latter condition had stories in which a protagonist was promised and given a reward before he performed a certain task. Type of reward was varied in two levels, the use of verbal versus tangible rewards. Three age groups of 40 subjects each participated in the present experiment. They were asked to listen very carefully to stories in which protagonists (a boy or a girl) performed various tasks. These stories were accompanied with pictures. Then, subjects were asked four questions. These questions were intended to measure children's inference about the cause of a protagonist's behavior, estimation of the degree of his internal motives, prediction of his future behavior, and reasons for his future behavior. Several analyses of variance were carried out on the subjects' responses to these questions. Significant effects were obtained for all major independent variabes, i.e., age, interpreted meanings of reward, and type of reward upon children's causal attribution. Some of the important results were as follows. With age, children became increasingly accurate in inferring the cause of behavior in the bonus condition. On the other hand, no significant age change was observed in the bribe condition. Child subjects tended to perceive tangible rewards more as external causes than verbal rewards. On the basis of responses to the above three questions, children were classified into accurate versus inaccurate attributors, accurate versus inaccurate estimators, or accurate versus inaccurate predictors. Significant association was observed between the first two dimensions and between the latter two dimensions suggesting that each of them is somewhat interrelated in causal attribution processes. Classification of child subjects on these criteria produced a picture on the four developmental levels in children's causal attribution : (a) Children who can not infer the internal or external cause of a particular behavior; (b) those who can only accurately infer the cause of behavior but can not estimate the degree of internal motives; (c) those who can perform both tasks but can not accurately predict the future behavior of a person; and (d) those who can infer, estimate, and predict behaviors.