Analogical transfer in young children: Analogies as tools for communication and exposition

Abstract

Abstract Children's ability to transfer what they learn in one situation to analogous problems was examined in a series of four studies. Subjects ranged in age from 3 to 10 years. The problems involved novel uses of familiar tools or simple biological themes such as mimicry as a method of defence. The data suggest that the apparent transfer reluctance shown by children in previous studies is the result of what they have been required to learn and the conditions under which they have been required to learn it. In the present studies, children as young as 3 years transferred readily if the problem domain was one they understood and engaged in, and if the traditional laboratory paradigm was modified so as to promote transfer rather than just to test for its spontaneous occurrence.

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