Counterfactual reasoning: From childhood to adulthood

Rafetseder, Eva; Schwitalla, Maria; Perner, Josef

doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2012.10.010

Cited by 109 publications

(172 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…When asked counterfactually, “If Carol had taken her dirty shoes off, would the floor be clean or dirty?” most 3‐year‐olds answered “clean” (Harris, German, & Mills, ). Most adults draw the same inference (Rafetseder, Schwitalla, & Perner, ).…”

Section: Developmental Studies Of Cfr: State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 90%

Counterfactual Reasoning: Sharpening Conceptual Distinctions in Developmental Studies

Rafetseder

Perner

2014

Child Dev Perspectives

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Counterfactual reasoning (CFR)—mentally representing what the world would be like now if things had been different in the past—is an important aspect of human cognition and the focus of research in areas such as philosophy, social psychology, and clinical psychology. More recently, it has also gained broad interest in cognitive developmental psychology, mainly focusing on the question of how this kind of reasoning can be characterized. Studies have been inconsistent in identifying when children can use CFR. In this article, we present theoretical positions that may account for this inconsistency and evaluate them in the light of research on counterfactual emotions.

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Section: Developmental Studies Of Cfr: State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 90%

Counterfactual Reasoning: Sharpening Conceptual Distinctions in Developmental Studies

Rafetseder

Perner

2014

Child Dev Perspectives

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“…In fact, there is considerable disagreement amongst cognitive developmental psychologists over when children can think counterfactually (Beck & Riggs, 2014;Rafetseder & Perner, 2014). Much of this debate hinges on whether children may be able to answer some types of counterfactual questions without actually engaging in counterfactual thought (Beck, 2016;Rafetseder et al, 2010Rafetseder et al, , 2013. Beck et al's (2006) study examined children's ability to think about both future possibility and counterfactual possibility in a novel way.…”

Section: Stage (C): Linear Event-independent Time (4-5 Years)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Temporal Concepts: Learning to Locate Events in Time

McCormack¹,

Hoerl

2017

Timing &Amp; Time Perception

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A new model of the development of temporal concepts is described that assumes that there are substantial changes in how children think about time in the early years. It is argued that there is a shift from understanding time in an event-dependent way to an event-independent understanding of time. Early in development, very young children are unable to think about locations in time independently of the events that occur at those locations. It is only with development that children begin to have a proper grasp of the distinction between past, present, and future, and represent time as linear and unidirectional. The model assumes that although children aged two to three years may categorize events differently depending on whether they lie in the past or the future, they may not be able to understand that whether an event is in the future or in the past is something that changes as time passes and varies with temporal perspective. Around four to five years, children understand how causality operates in time, and can grasp the systematic relations that obtain between different locations in time, which provides the basis for acquiring the conventional clock and calendar system.

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“…Based on tasks like this, Rafetseder et al. () argue that adult‐like counterfactual reasoning does not typically emerge until early adolescence (after 12 years). However, we think it likely that these tasks make additional reasoning demands in terms of informational complexity and that in middle childhood, children can relate the real and counterfactual possibilities (see other studies described earlier).…”

Section: The Development Of Counterfactual Thinkingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing Thoughts About What Might Have Been

Beck

Riggs

2014

Child Dev Perspectives

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Recent research has changed how developmental psychologists understand counterfactual thinking or thoughts of what might have been. Evidence suggests that counterfactual thinking develops over an extended period into at least middle childhood, depends on domain‐general processes including executive function and language, and dissociates from counterfactual emotions such as regret. In this article, we review the developmental evidence that forms a critical but often‐overlooked complement to the cognitive, social, and neuroscience literatures. We also highlight topics for further research, including spontaneous counterfactual thinking and counterfactual thinking in clinical settings.

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Counterfactual reasoning: From childhood to adulthood

Cited by 109 publications

References 34 publications

Counterfactual Reasoning: Sharpening Conceptual Distinctions in Developmental Studies

Counterfactual Reasoning: Sharpening Conceptual Distinctions in Developmental Studies

The Development of Temporal Concepts: Learning to Locate Events in Time

Developing Thoughts About What Might Have Been

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