Pretesting Promotes Theme Extraction but Not Generalization from Moral Stories in Young Children
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| Title: | Pretesting Promotes Theme Extraction but Not Generalization from Moral Stories in Young Children |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Jyh Hsien Foo (ORCID |
| Source: | Developmental Psychology. 2026 62(6):1236-1249. |
| Availability: | American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 14 |
| Publication Date: | 2026 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Young Children, Generalization, Ethics, Recall (Psychology), Learning, Foreign Countries, Moral Development |
| Geographic Terms: | Singapore |
| DOI: | 10.1037/dev0002005 |
| ISSN: | 0012-1649 1939-0599 |
| Abstract: | Although adults commonly tell moral stories to children with the aim of teaching important lessons, they often fail to extract the intended moral themes of these stories. Few interventions to date have successfully addressed this problem. The present study examined the effects of pretesting on children's learning from moral stories. We assigned sixty 5- to 6-year-olds to either a pretesting condition, where they attempted pretest questions about a to-be-learned moral before hearing a moral story, or a control condition, where they only heard the story. After hearing the story, pretested children were significantly more likely than the control group to generate the intended moral theme on open-ended questions asking about the story's lesson. They did not perform any better, however, on tasks that involved selecting the theme in a forced-choice format or applying it to novel scenarios. Hence, the present findings partially support the hypothesis that pretesting improves children's theme extraction from moral stories--that is, enhancing the ability to reproduce the correct theme but not enhancing generalization to other circumstances. Overall, this study reveals that pretesting can enhance the effectiveness of moral stories as an educational tool, at least in terms of helping children to learn important moral lessons, and presents directions for further research to investigate real-life applications of these lessons. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Notes: | https://osf.io/dsc6r |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1505680 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | Although adults commonly tell moral stories to children with the aim of teaching important lessons, they often fail to extract the intended moral themes of these stories. Few interventions to date have successfully addressed this problem. The present study examined the effects of pretesting on children's learning from moral stories. We assigned sixty 5- to 6-year-olds to either a pretesting condition, where they attempted pretest questions about a to-be-learned moral before hearing a moral story, or a control condition, where they only heard the story. After hearing the story, pretested children were significantly more likely than the control group to generate the intended moral theme on open-ended questions asking about the story's lesson. They did not perform any better, however, on tasks that involved selecting the theme in a forced-choice format or applying it to novel scenarios. Hence, the present findings partially support the hypothesis that pretesting improves children's theme extraction from moral stories--that is, enhancing the ability to reproduce the correct theme but not enhancing generalization to other circumstances. Overall, this study reveals that pretesting can enhance the effectiveness of moral stories as an educational tool, at least in terms of helping children to learn important moral lessons, and presents directions for further research to investigate real-life applications of these lessons. |
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| ISSN: | 0012-1649 1939-0599 |
| DOI: | 10.1037/dev0002005 |
