Developmental Psychology

Next time a three-year-old tells you what to do you might want to listen. Because three-year-olds can recognize when we adults are doing something [counterproductive:counter-measure] and are keen to help us find a better way. That's according to new research in the journal Developmental Psychology. Scientists had 58 three-year-olds examine several functional and [nonfunctional:emotional] objects. Like a real phone and a toy phone, or a working marker and a dried-up marker. Then the researcher would say something like, " I need to make a phone call, can you get me the phone." Sometimes the researcher would point to a real phone and other times point to the [toy:troy] phone. The children would consistently bring over the functional item, regardless of whether the researcher pointed to it or asked specifically for it. In contrast, when they were told the item would just be thrown out, they'd bring either the nonfunctional or functional object.