TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of integrated explanations for illness
AU - Toyama, Noriko
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by a KAKENHI (No. 17K04375 , 15H03451 ) grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science . I am grateful to the undergraduate students of Waseda University who participated in the present study. I also thank the children and teachers at one elementary school and two preschools in Higashimurayama-City, Tokyo.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2019/7/1
Y1 - 2019/7/1
N2 - The present study examined children's and adults’ explanations about the relations between various factors (contagion, imbalanced diet, lack of sleep, mental depression, cold weather, and immanent justice) and the onset of illness. Six-, 9-, 11-year-old children and adults very frequently judged that contagion and cold weather would make an individual contract a cold. They also tended to judge that lifestyle habits such as nutrition and sleep are causal factors. When asked why these factors led to illness, children and adults frequently referred to “germs” and “resistance” factors. In resistance explanations, given factors were assumed to cause illness by weakening an individual's resistant power, which was expressed as vital force, power, energy, physical strength, immune system, or stress. Coexistence of “germ” and “resistance” explanations were more evident among adults than children, and among adults with a higher education level.
AB - The present study examined children's and adults’ explanations about the relations between various factors (contagion, imbalanced diet, lack of sleep, mental depression, cold weather, and immanent justice) and the onset of illness. Six-, 9-, 11-year-old children and adults very frequently judged that contagion and cold weather would make an individual contract a cold. They also tended to judge that lifestyle habits such as nutrition and sleep are causal factors. When asked why these factors led to illness, children and adults frequently referred to “germs” and “resistance” factors. In resistance explanations, given factors were assumed to cause illness by weakening an individual's resistant power, which was expressed as vital force, power, energy, physical strength, immune system, or stress. Coexistence of “germ” and “resistance” explanations were more evident among adults than children, and among adults with a higher education level.
KW - Causal explanations
KW - Illness awareness
KW - Knowledge acquisition
KW - Naïve biology
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cogdev.2019.05.003
DO - 10.1016/j.cogdev.2019.05.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85066137596
VL - 51
SP - 1
EP - 13
JO - Cognitive Development
JF - Cognitive Development
SN - 0885-2014
ER -