Counterfactual Reasoning: From Childhood to Adulthood

Autor/inn/en	Rafetseder, Eva; Schwitalla, Maria; Perner, Josef
Titel	Counterfactual Reasoning: From Childhood to Adulthood
Quelle	In: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 114 (2013) 3, S.389-404 (16 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-0965
DOI	10.1016/j.jecp.2012.10.010
Schlagwörter	Logical Thinking; Individual Development; Children; Preadolescents; Early Adolescents; Age Differences; Executive Function + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Individuelle Entwicklung; Child; Kind; Kinder; Pre-adolescence; Präadoleszenz; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied
Abstract	The objective of this study was to describe the developmental progression of counterfactual reasoning from childhood to adulthood. In contrast to the traditional view, it was recently reported by Rafetseder and colleagues that even a majority of 6-year-old children do not engage in counterfactual reasoning when asked counterfactual questions ("Child Development," 2010, Vol. 81, pp. 376-389). By continuing to use the same method, the main result of the current Study 1 was that performance of the 9- to 11-year-olds was comparable to that of the 6-year-olds, whereas the 12- to 14-year-olds approximated adult performance. Study 2, using an intuitively simpler task based on Harris and colleagues ("Cognition," 1996, Vol. 61, pp. 233-259), resulted in a similar conclusion, specifically that the ability to apply counterfactual reasoning is not fully developed in all children before 12 years of age. We conclude that children who failed our tasks seem to lack an understanding of what needs to be changed (events that are causally dependent on the counterfactual assumption) and what needs to be left unchanged and so needs to be kept as it actually happened. Alternative explanations, particularly executive functioning, are discussed in detail. (Contains 2 figures and 2 footnotes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10