Children's Preferences for Differing Degrees of Novelty

Sixty experimental Ss were individually habituated to an array of eight small toys. Following this, each child was shown four additional arrays and asked to choose one for further play. The five arrays represented a series graduated with respect to degree of novelty as follows: 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 per cent. Anxiety scores for each child were obtained by means of independent ratings by three teachers on a scale devised for this purpose. It was found that for the total group the preference value of a toy array increased as a direct function of its degree of novelty. Older children, boys, and lowanxious children preferred greater novelty significantly more frequently then did younger children, girls, and high-anxious children.