Abstract
Sixty-four preschool children were each given four 1-minute (familiarization) trials with two toys, identical except for color, from each of four different sets of toys. On each trial, S chose and was given one of the two toys. Alternations of choice were significantly greater than the number expected by chance. On “Task” trials constituting fifth trials for each set, S could choose one or both of the toys used in the familiarization trials or the third, or novel, toy in the set. The novel toy was either damaged or undamaged, and the choice offered was either one-out-of-three toys or two familiar toys vs. one novel toy. All four combinations of the factors of damage and kind-of-choice offered were used to assess the extent of children's preferences for novelty. The gradient of choice of the novel toy was in direct relation to the direction of gradation of difficulty, but at all levels of difficulty, significantly more Ss chose the novel toy than would have been expected by chance. Longer latencies of choice were associated with perseveration than with alternation in familiarization trials, and with choice of familiar toys than with novel toys in “task” trials.
Published Version
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