The Modification of Communicative Behavior in Preschool-aged Children as a Function of the Listener's Perspective

Abstract

MENIC-PETERSON, CAROLE L. The Modification of Communicative Behavior in Preschool-aged Children as a Function of the Listener's Perspective. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1975, 46, 10151018. The ability of preschool-aged children to modify their verbal communication as a function of listener attributes was explored. 3and 4-year-old children twice engaged in a variety of tasks with an adult. 1 week after each interaction they talked about their experiences under 2 conditions of listener knowledge: (a) when the listener was knowledgeable about those experiences (having participated in them), and (b) when the listener was naive. The communicative behavior of the children differed substantially on a number of measures under the 2 conditions of listener knowledge. They appropriately modified their language as a function of listener needs.