Analogical reasoning in children

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Analogical reasoning in children

Usha Goswami

(Essays in developmental psychology)

Erlbaum, c1992

  • : pbk

Available at  / 23 libraries

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Note

Bibliography: p. 145-151

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Analogical reasoning is a fundamental cognitive skill, involved in classification, learning, problem-solving and creative thinking, and should be a basic building block of cognitive development. However, for a long time researchers have believed that children are incapable of reasoning by analogy. This book argues that this is far from the case, and that analogical reasoning may be available very early in development. Recent research has shown that even 3-year-olds can solve analogies, and that infants can reason about relational similarity, which is the hallmark of analogy. The book traces the roots of the popular misconceptions about children's analogical abilities and argues that when children fail to use analogies, it is because they do not understand the relations underlying the analogy rather than because they are incapable of analogical reasoning. The author argues that young children spontaneously use analogies in learning, and that their analogies can sometimes lead them into misconceptions. In the "real worlds" of their classrooms, children use analogies when learning basic skills like reading, and even babies seem to use analogies to learn about the world around them.

Table of Contents

Reasoning by Analogy. Structural Theories of Analogical Development. Testing the Claims of Structural Theory. Information-Processing Accounts of Classical Analogical Reasoning. Problem Analogies and Analogical Development. Analogies in Babies and Toddlers. Analogies in the Real World of the Classroom.

by "Nielsen BookData"

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Details

  • NCID
    BA22675751
  • ISBN
    • 0863773249
  • Country Code
    uk
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    Hove
  • Pages/Volumes
    ix, 156 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Parent Bibliography ID
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