三〜六歲幼兒對生物本質的認知：內在結構、固有潛質、身分穩定性

Young Children's Understanding of the Essence of Life Being: Underlying Structure, Innate Potential and the Constancy of Identity

本研究目的主要在探測三～六歲幼兒的天真生物學：檢視幼兒是否能辨識生物的「內在結構」、「固有潛質」與「身分穩定性」？擁有抽象的期望架構？研究者調整晚近發展心理學者的研究設計，以較深入的方式，追蹤72名3～6歲幼兒在各概念間的推理機制。研究結果發現，幼兒的因果思考，超越先前評估，具有較佳的潛力，3～4歲為萌發期。（1）3歲已能推測生物的內在結構，知悉動物、植物與機器內在的差異，及至5歲，此能力大致成熟；（2）4歲已能感知生物的固有潛質，有效預測剛出生生物的發展傾向，唯對於植物種子的發展傾向的，6歲時才有成熟的認知；（3）3歲已能理解生物的身分具穩定性，即使強行改變外觀，仍無法改變其本質，及至6歲，此能力大致成熟。整體而言，在生物學的因果推理中，幼兒出現「由抽象而具體」的心理本質論思維。

This study explored the naive biology among 3-to 6-year-olds and examined their understanding of the underlying structure, innate potential and the constant identity of life being. Through the investigation of current research design of the developmental psychology, researcher traced the reasoning mechanism of the different conceptions among seventy- two 3-to 6-year-old children more deeply. The results showed that young children's ability of causal thinking was beyond the estimation of previous researches and 3-to 4-year-olds had an emerging understanding of life being: (1) 3-year-olds were able to predict the underlying structure of life being and to understand the difference of internal structure among animals, plants and machines effectively. Until 5 years of age, this ability were getting mature. (2) 4-year-olds appeared to be aware of innate potential of life being and were able to predict the development of baby life being. It was not until age 6 that children demonstrated a better understanding of the developmental tendency of seeds. (3) 3-year-olds were beginning to realize the constant identity of life being regardless of the operation and deforming. Until around age 6, children's understanding was then mature. Conclusively, young children employed psychological essentialism in an abstract to concrete shift while doing causal reasoning of biological phenomena.