Investigations of the Meaning of "Different" in the Language of Young Children

Abstract

WEBB, ROGER A.; OLIVERI, MARY ELLEN; and O'KEEFFE, LYNDA. Investigations of the Meaning of Different in the Language of Young Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1974, 45, 984-991. Young children were studied in tasks that required them to select one object different from another. Children systematically selected maximally similar objects until about 3/2 years and thereafter performed correctly. Additional data derived from the children's verbal justifications and refusals to select suggested a 4-stage model in which the youngest children confuse different with same, slightly older children interpret it to mean another, the younger correct responders believe different requires a dimension of similarity, and the older are indistinguishable from adults. The model was supported in a longitudinal study related to a need for concrete referents.