Stability of preschool children’s exploratory behavior in the same situation

Using a measure of exploratory behavior in preschool children, the present study examined the hypothesis that testing in the same situation would reveal stable or consistent behavior from one occasion to another (N = 20 boys and girls, mean age 4 years 4 months). With an intersession interval of three to four days, neither of two measures correlated significantly between sessions. However, significant correlations were obtained when the intersession interval was 12 to 14 days. It was argued that stability of behavior in the same (defined objectively) situation will be affected by the extent to which childrenperceive the situations as the same, in this case as relatively novel or not. The longer interval more likely equated perceptions of the test situation as relatively novel.