Applications of Information Integration to Children’s Social Cognitions

Abstract

This chapter reviews recent studies that have used the information integration approach (Anderson, 1980) to explore children’s social cognitions. As noted in the review by Hastie (1983) of research on social inference, the information integration approach addresses the molar processing stages that are the basis of any cognitive model: (a) stimulus selection and valuation, (b) information integration, and (c) response generation. The information integration approach is particularly well tailored to exploring the development of social cognitions. Developmental researchers frequently ask questions about how children use social information of different sorts and how use of information changes with development. The information integration approach provides the researcher with powerful tools for formally expressing theories of the processes of combining information and for testing those theories. For example, how do children of different ages combine motive and consequence information in evaluating the deeds of another, and at approximately what age do children first place more importance on motives than on consequences? As is seen in the following review, the information integration approach provides a framework for answering such questions, and it also provides a framework in which concepts such as developmental stage, quantitative versus qualitative developmental change, and reversible operations can be reinterpreted in a more precise manner than previously. Before we embark on our review of the literature on children’s social cognitions, it is first necessary to consider the processes of human judgment as expressed in the information integration approach.