2010年2月28日 星期日

大人們別小看兒童的判斷力啦

回台灣時我其實很少看電視,前幾天我看到這篇部落格文章裡,講述之前台灣卡通會打馬賽克蓋掉某角色刁香煙的事情,我不只啼笑皆非, 還真是很驚訝。

這是前幾天的新聞,國健局因為香吉士每天嘴巴刁著香菸,認為會對小朋友造成不良的影響,所以規定以後香吉士的香菸都要噴霧或馬賽克。雖然後來被抗議後取消了,但這還真的是一個蠢方法。


我覺得這不只是一個超蠢方法,且是"官員沒有先作功課與深入了解就亂定規定一通"的又一例。

兒童的判斷能力其實很強。

雖然我們對人類的智慧如何生成仍所知有限,但幼兒都有很強的情境判斷能力,早已是近年來認知科學多次檢驗後的事實。有個知名的實驗就可以證明。

這實驗是這樣設計的(註):

實驗的工具是一張桌子,上面設有電燈開關。第一組研究員先在幼兒面前,兩隻手平放在桌面上,刻意不用手卻用頭去頂桌上的開關,受試幼兒看了看,之後被吩咐開燈時,他也摹仿之前大人的怪行徑,用頭去頂開關。

而對照組,是由研究員出現在另一組受試幼兒面前,但這次研究員假裝很冷,全身裹了條毯子坐在桌前,手包在毯子裡,坐定後一樣用頭去頂桌上的開關。之後幼兒被吩咐開燈時,他們卻都自然地用手去開, 而不是摹仿研究員用頭去頂。

因為---即使是幼兒, 也有能力觀察事物脈絡與因果關係。

在對照組實驗裡,這些小孩子觀察到, 裹毯子的研究員得用頭去頂開關, 是因為手包在毯子裡, 是不得已的行為. 也就是說, 小孩能判斷這個行徑發生的背後原因. 他們自己身上沒有裹毯子,因此被吩咐要開燈時,就用手使用電燈開關較方便--- 正常的幼兒只有在觀察不到原因支撐某行徑,才會認為這些行徑應該是正常,例如第一組實驗就是如此。

看到卡通人物的行徑,幼兒很自然會從故事脈絡裡判斷此人行為的情境原因,要讓兒童看了電視某人的行為後就起身去模仿,要有很多其他因素相佐才會發生, 例如, 他想要成為這類角色, 或者也想要身在這樣的情境. 但這些因素已經不是看到"卡通人物在作某事(例如, 看到某人物嘴裡有根煙)"就會造成, 而是他父母或社會帶給他的週遭環境使然.

事實上,膚淺地把影像裡可以看到的某元素直接『汙名化』,本是個錯誤的概念。最簡單的一個例子, 是戰爭電影.

戰爭電影通常有最多的打殺爆炸場面. 這些會被一般人標為"暴力血腥"的元素, 它存在的功用常是為了突顯正面的價值:例如, 戰友間的合作救援,戰爭的無情,友情與生命的可貴,等等。若認為打殺爆炸畫面很暴力就把它馬賽克掉,這些正面價值就無法有效呈現。

暴力或任何道德的定義,本來就不是"看到什麼行為就可label"這麼簡單。意義與價值,都要在更廣的脈絡情境下才能判斷,這本是連幼兒都有的天賦,是之後僵化的教育與膚淺的社會,才硬是暴力地壓垮了他們天生的能力。

(註)實驗出處:
Gergely G, Bekkering H, Király I (2002)"Developmental psychology: Rational imitation in preverbal infants" Nature, 415. 755

9 意見:

咖啡癮士 羅大 提到...

有實驗的出處嗎?畢竟現在網路上各種說法滿天飛,如果有該實驗的出處會更令人信服。

Chiaokovsky 提到...

@NOMAN ok, 實驗出處已補上.

Unknown 提到...

Wondering if this case happened in Canada related with your article or not? TIA.

Chiaokovsky 提到...

@衣師 could you be more specific? Which kind of relation are you wondering about?

Unknown 提到...

Appreciate the soon reply, just my response removed by the creator - Hence I'd like to hear your comment. :)
Btw, from my own experiences: Compare with adults, kids have stronger instincts, which contribute a lot for the so called "judgments" - generally speaking. ^__^

Chiaokovsky 提到...

@衣師 “Hence I'd like to hear your comment.” -->sorry i still don't quite get what i am supposed to comment on...

To me "instinct" and "judgment" seem to be two contradictory concepts. @@a

I think the original issue in my essay was more about the cognitive ability children are born with. It is not "instinct" because some logic-thinking is mobilised. Briefly speaking, children just know it! :)

Unknown 提到...

>children just know it!
That's exactly what "instinct" meant! ^^
I must confess what I posted Yesterday was a translated Chinese version, which was prone to be "deleted" by sensitive authorities/managers.
- Isn't such action exactly similar to what You hinted atop Your essay?
Esp. Compare with what happened FB's台大電機:謝謝雙雙分享.. http://www.facebook.com/ntuee.FB LOL~

> cognitive ability...
Coincidently it happened near end of the article I offered. So I guessed- Like me before: You're not a Vegan?! Unless very rare cases, egg/milk/meat blocked lots of our capabilities... really! :P

Chiaokovsky 提到...

@衣師 “>children just know it!
That's exactly what "instinct" meant!” --> I still think cognition and instinct have different definitions...but anyway, this falls away from the issue here.

『認知』 in Chinese could broadly refer to comprehension, cognition, knowing, understanding, etc. These all refer to different concepts in cognitive science. The experiment I quoted was cognitive ability based on infants' logical thinking on causal relation; and the article about kids rejecting meat does not involve this kind of "context-based cognition". The two essays are irrelevant in this perspective.

Sorry I do not have a facebook account. But thank you for your input.

Unknown 提到...

Non_FBers still read 智力vs.直覺, else Brahma Cakra ~ Lucky!
Btw, (悅性、變性、惰性) hinted there confirmed my 2cents: Best to be a Vegan.:)
Finally, appreciate your patience & contribute to our World via your blog. ^_^