1. “We propose that the present results suggest that
Onishi, K. and Baillargeon, R. Do 15-Month-Old Infants Understand False Beliefs? Science. Vol 308 pp. 255 – 258.
Conclusions
“We propose that the present results suggest that
15-month-old infants expect an actor to search
for a toy where she believes, rightly or wrongly,
that it is hidden.”
Theory and Methodology
56 infants (27 girls, 29 boys)
14 mo. 27 days – 15 mo. 18 days
2 familiarization trials with
putting a toy in the box and
looking for a toy in a box
A single belief-induction trial
TB-green
TB-yellow
FB-green
FB-yellow
A single test-trial
reach into yellow box
reach into the green box
Mean (TSE) looking times during the test
trial (after the actor reached into the green or
yellow box) in the four belief conditions.
Findings
Strengths
8 Cases control for other variables
Good use of statistics
Weaknesses
The correlations don’t indicate why the
infants respond the way they do.
Sarah Parikh 5/4/09