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Some cognitive and social correlates of children’s fluency in riddle-telling

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Abstract

Cognitive and social correlates of riddle-telling were investigated in a matched-pairs design. Fluent riddle-tellers from two age groups (six to eight years and eight to eleven years) were matched with their peers who told few riddles or none at all. The children’s cognitive abilities were measured on nine verbal and four nonverbal tasks, and their social adjustment estimated by teacher reports and sociometric tests. Riddle-tellers in the younger age group were further advanced cognitively and less well-adjusted socially than their peers who did not know any riddles. Only cognitive correlates of riddle-telling were found for children in the older age group. The results suggest the need for future investigations of riddle-telling to consider both cognitive and social factors and to expect different patterns of correlates according to children’s degree of experience in riddle-telling.

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  1. Education Research and Development Committee, PO Box 826, 2606, Woden, ACT, Australia

    Jennifer Bowes

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  1. Jennifer Bowes
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Bowes, J. Some cognitive and social correlates of children’s fluency in riddle-telling. Current Psychological Research 1, 9–19 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02684421

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