A Developmental Analysis of Exploration Styles

Humans interact with their environment in different behavioral modes such as seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, approaching, manipulating, and talking. These interactions create information and belong to the behavioral system of exploration. Although they share the common purpose of information input, they differ significantly in structure. Shulamith and Hans Kreitler (1987, see also this volume; and Kreitler, Zigler, & Kreitler, 1974, 1975) who have done extensive research on the factor structure of exploration have repeatedly identified five factors in children as well as in adults. The most powerful factors with respect to the amount of explained variance in 6-to 8-year-old children were manipulative exploration (17.5%, focused on exploring by means of motor actions), followed by perceptual exploration (12.5%, focused on exploring by means of viewing, listening, or smelling) and conceptual exploration (9.3%, focused on exploring by checking meanings and their interrelations and by asking questions).

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