The origins of hypothesis testing: Young children’s developing understanding of information seeking compared to effect production

ABSTRACT Understanding that hypothesis testing is aimed at seeking information rather than producing desirable outcomes is indispensable for designing informative experiments. This study investigated the developmental course of information seeking compared to producing an effect in young children. In a between-subjects design, 4- to 6-year-olds (N = 109) were presented with the same pattern of events and asked to choose an intervention to either seek information on whether a hypothesis is right or produce an effect. The results revealed a developmental change between 4 and 6 years of age. From 5.5 years and onwards, children selectively chose the correct interventions in both conditions, whereas 4- and younger 5-year-olds did not. Contrary to the general view that producing desirable outcomes developmentally precedes engaging in information seeking, the present findings indicate that they follow a similar developmental line in the early childhood years.