Young Children's Causal Explanations Are Biased by Post-Action Associative Information

Autor/inn/en	Atance, Cristina M.; Metcalf, Jennifer L.; Martin-Ordas, Gema; Walker, Cheryl L.
Titel	Young Children's Causal Explanations Are Biased by Post-Action Associative Information
Quelle	In: Developmental Psychology, 50 (2014) 12, S.2675-2685 (11 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0012-1649
DOI	10.1037/a0038186
Schlagwörter	Children; Child Development; Attribution Theory; Memory; Cognitive Processes; Theory of Mind; Toddlers; Age Differences; Task Analysis; Control Groups; Statistical Analysis; Young Children; Structural Equation Models; Scores + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Child; Kind; Kinder; Kindesentwicklung; Gedächtnis; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Infant; Infants; Toddler; Kleinkind; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Aufgabenanalyse; Statistische Analyse; Frühe Kindheit
Abstract	In a series of 4 experiments, we tested children's understanding that the causes of their actions must necessarily be attributed to information known prior to (i.e., "pre-action" information), rather than after (i.e., "post-action" information), the completion of their actions. For example, children were shown a dog, asked to get some cheese to feed the dog, and then returned to discover a mouse. In Experiment 1, the majority of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds claimed that they had gotten the cheese to feed the mouse. In Experiments 2 and 3, we ruled out the possibilities that (1) children had forgotten the critical "pre-action" information (e.g., "dog"), and (2) children had merely attributed the cause of their action to the most recent item (e.g., "dog") that they had seen. Finally, in Experiment 4, we determined that 7-year-olds, but not 6-year-olds, correctly attributed the cause of their action to the pre-action information, suggesting that this is the age at which children are no longer influenced by associative post-action information when explaining the causes of their actions. These results are discussed in terms of their relevance for causal reasoning, action explanation, and memory. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01