Constraints on Accessing Abstract Source Information: Instantiation of Principles Facilitates Children's Analogical Transfer

An abstract principle provided as source information alone often fails to enhance analogical transfer. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the circumstances under which an abstract statement promotes analogical problem solving in children. External instantiation (providing concrete example...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of educational psychology 1995-09, Vol.87 (3), p.445-454
Main Authors: Chen, Zhe, Yanowitz, Karen L, Daehler, Marvin W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abstraction
Access to Information
Analogy
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child development
Child psychology
Children
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive Generalization
Constraints
Developmental psychology
Elementary Education
Examples
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Generative Processes
Human
Instantiation Hypothesis
Problem Solving
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Transfer of Training
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Summary:An abstract principle provided as source information alone often fails to enhance analogical transfer. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the circumstances under which an abstract statement promotes analogical problem solving in children. External instantiation (providing concrete examples, with similar or dissimilar surface features along with an abstract statement) and internal instantiation (encouraging learners to generate concrete examples of the abstract statement) were equally effective in facilitating transfer. Adding explicit causal relations in the source statements did not significantly enhance transfer. These results suggest that abstract information by itself is less accessible because it lacks superficial features similar to the target problem and lacks example-specific contextual information. Educational implications of the effects of external and internal instantiations are discussed.
ISSN:0022-0663
1939-2176
DOI:10.1037/0022-0663.87.3.445