本研究旨在探討中文為母語之兒童對承諾的理解，並驗證不同操 縱變因（如：被承諾者的社會地位、承諾的結果、承諾者的誠意、承 諾的明確性）對兒童承諾概念的影響。研究方法包含在不同情境下的 承諾判斷及承諾表達兩種實驗題型。研究對象分為五組，由平均年齡 為六歲至九歲的兒童與成人共一百位所組成，每組二十人。
研究發現如下：年長受試者與控制組皆認為對長輩做的承諾才算 數，而年幼受試者對承諾的判斷則不會受到被承諾者不同社會地位的 影響。兒童受承諾結果的影響較深，與成人達顯著差異，相較於未實 踐的諾言，兒童較認可確實完成的承諾，顯示在兒童的承諾概念中， 承諾的結果與承諾本身是密不可分的。然而，所有受試者對承諾的判 斷並未受到承諾者的誠意之影響，顯示無誠意的承諾仍被認為是一個 承諾。此外，所有組別的受試者均較容易認可清楚表達出內容的承諾。 最後，在承諾表達結果中發現，中文為母語的孩童於六歲左右便可做 出承諾。在策略上，受試者傾向做出內容清楚呈現的承諾。年紀越大 的孩子在表達明確性上較接近成人。

The present study aims to investigate Chinese-speaking children’s acquisition of the speech act of “promising” by examining four factors which affect their judgment of others’ promises and production of their own promises: the promisee’s social status, the outcome condition of the promise, the promiser’s sincerity, and the explicitness of “the promise.” Two comprehension tasks and one production task were given to a total of one hundred subjects. The subjects were divided into five groups of twenty: four experimental groups (consisting of children aged 6 to 9) and one adult group.
The results showed that the younger subjects were not sensitive to the social status of the promisee. In terms of the role played by sincerity in the judging of promises, it was found that a promiser’s perceived sincerity had no effect whatsoever on the participants’ judgment of the promise, indicating that an apparently insincere promise was still considered to be a promise by all groups. It was also found that a promise which explicitly stated a future act was more likely to be considered an effective promise by all the participants. Finally, the results of the production task showed that Chinese-speaking children were capable of making a commitment at the age of six, and that the promissory strategy most frequently adopted by all groups was to state the future act explicitly.