Japanese preschoolers’ evaluation of circular and non-circular arguments

Abstract

Observational and experimental data have revealed that preschoolers possess some argumentation skills, both in the production and the evaluation of arguments. However, these skills might have been fostered by the particular cultural context of Western middle- and upper-classes families, to which most children studied belong. Some data suggests that children in other cultures possess at least some of these skills, but no experimental data had been gathered in Eastern cultures. These cultures are supposed to frown on argumentation, and might thus be less conducive to the early development of argumentation skills. We test the emergence of argument evaluation skills in Japanese 5-year-olds by presenting them with a choice between endorsing a strong, perceptual argument, and a weak, circular argument. A first experiment revealed a trend in the direction of the strong argument. A second experiment that addresses some methodological concerns of the first demonstrates a significant tendency to follow the strong argument. These results are similar to those previously gathered in two other cultures (Swiss and Maya), and suggest that some basic argumentation skills are early developing across cultures.

Keywords:

• Argumentation
• preschoolers
• argument evaluation
• circular argument
• Japan

Notes

¹ Although some studies suggest a rise in individualism in many cultures, including Japan, some differences remain, so that Japan can still safely be said to be less individualistic than most Western cultures, the US in particular (Hamamura, 2012).

² Moreover, cross-cultural differences in the way adults evaluate arguments have been observed even in much more similar cultures, such as France, the Netherlands, and Germany (Hornikx & Hoeken, 2007; Hornikx & ter Haar, 2013).

³ The Japanese versions were, for the circular argument: 犬はこっちに行ったよ。だって、犬はこっちの方向に行ったから。; for the perceptual argument: 犬はこっちに行ったよ。だって、私は犬がこっちの方向に行くのを見たから。.

⁴ Yielding a significant preference for the perceptual argument (binomial test, p = .036).

⁵ More specifically, for the circular argument: 犬が行ったのはこっち。だって、こっちなの。, and for the perceptual argument: 犬が行ったのはこっち。だって、私犬を見たの。.