Preschoolers’ generation of different types of counterfactual statements and theory of mind understanding

Guajardo, Nicole R.; Turley-Ames, Kandi Jo

doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2003.09.002

Cited by 64 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…This ability to disengage or suspend current knowledge can be considered a special form of counterfactual thinking (Riggs et al, 1998). While counterfactual reasoning emerges earlier than false-belief (FB) reasoning (Perner et al, 2004), both require children to understand that propositions may refer to entities (events and locations) that differ from current reality (Guajardo and Turley-Ames, 2004;Mueller et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding of emotions based on counterfactual reasoning in children with autism spectrum disorders

Begeer

Rosnay

Lunenburg³

et al. 2012

Autism

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The understanding of emotions based on counterfactual reasoning was studied in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (n = 71) and in typically developing children (n = 71), aged 6–12 years. Children were presented with eight stories about two protagonists who experienced the same positive or negative outcome, either due to their own action or by default. Relative to the comparison group, children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder were poor at explaining emotions based on downward counterfactual reasoning (i.e. contentment and relief). There were no group differences in upward counterfactual reasoning (i.e. disappointment and regret). In the comparison group, second-order false-belief reasoning was related to children’s understanding of second-order counterfactual emotions (i.e. regret and relief), while children in the high-functioning autism spectrum disorder group relied more on their general intellectual skills. Results are discussed in terms of the different functions of counterfactual reasoning about emotion and the cognitive style of children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding of emotions based on counterfactual reasoning in children with autism spectrum disorders

Begeer

Rosnay

Lunenburg³

et al. 2012

Autism

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“…We chose the 7-year-olds because previous results showed that between the age of 3 and 5, children's ability to reason counterfactually expands (e.g., Guajardo & Turley-Ames, 2004) and that by the age of 7 children possess the necessary components to perform the key steps in the Possible Worlds modal logic analysis of belief-revisioning and they start to reason from and spontaneously generate counterfactuals. However, to our knowledge, their counterfactual reasoning abilities in belief revision situations had not been examined before.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We note that this ability to generate counterfactuals improves between the age of 3 and 5, with the exception of generating of subtractive counterfactuals (Guajardo & Turley-Ames, 2004). As we mentioned in the Introduction, this is probably related to the fact that subtractive counterfactuals might ask for more cognitive resources (TurleyAmes & Whitfield, as cited in Guajardo & Turley-Ames, 2004). Hence, the development of a sensitivity for different types of counterfactual situations seems to happen faster than the development of the cognitive ability to generate different counterfactuals.…”

Section: Cognitive Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Around the age of 3-4, children are able to produce and to reason from different types of counterfactuals spontaneously (e.g., Beck, Robinson, Carroll, & Apperly, 2006;O'Brien, Dias, Roazzi, & Braine, 1998). Guajardo and Turley-Ames (2004) showed that children from the age of 3 can generate an alternative antecedent in response to a counterfactual outcome after hearing a story (counterfactual antecedent tasks), and vice versa for counterfactual consequent tasks. Their performance on these tasks increased between the age of 3 and 5.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…improved less. Like adults, children generate fewer subtractive than additive counterfactuals in part because subtractive counterfactuals require more cognitive resources than other counterfactuals (TurleyAmes & Whitfield, as cited in Guajardo & Turley-Ames, 2004). In addition, Beck, Riggs, and Gorniak (2009) found that counterfactual reasoning is related to inhibitory control (executive function) -children before the age of 5 have difficulty separating real-world knowledge from fantasy, and are unable to ignore their real world knowledge (Beck et al, 2006) unless fantasy instructions are provided (e.g., Harris & Leevers, 2000;Markovits & Vachon, 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Development of Counterfactual Reasoning in Belief Revision

Hoeck

Revlin²,

Dieussaert³

et al. 2012

PSYCHOL BELG

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The present study examines how children revise beliefs in the face of a new piece of information that they must accept as true and under what circumstances their belief-revision processes differ from college-aged adults. Results suggest that overall, 7-year-old children (children at Stage 2 reasoning; Moshman, 1990) revise beliefs as do adults, by rejecting particular beliefs in favour of more general ones. However, only adults adjust their revision strategy as a consequence of the logical structure of the initial belief set. Adults, but not children, tend to organise their revised beliefs to be consistent with general statements more often when the set of beliefs create a Modus Tollens logic structure than when they create a Modus Ponens structure. This difference in belief revision by the two age groups reflects their sensitivity to logical structure.

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The Development of Reasoning

Ricco

2015

Handbook of Child Psychology and Developmental Science

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This chapter discusses the course of development for deductive and inductive forms of reasoning across childhood and adolescence. Key theories of how best to account for that course are critiqued. The development of deduction is considered primarily with respect to syllogistic and conditional reasoning. Mental logic, metacognitive, and mental models accounts of deduction are contrasted and compared and the potential for rapprochement is identified. The development of inductive reasoning is discussed with respect to three primary types of induction—category‐based induction, causal induction, and inductive processes in scientific thinking. The discussion of the development of reasoning provided in this chapter is situated within a dual systems or dual process account of cognition. According to this account, human cognition consists of two distinct systems (1 and 2) or types of processing, with the primary basis for the distinction being the question of whether processing engages working memory resources. By adopting this framework, it becomes possible to shed light on the processes that underlie deductive and inductive reasoning and to trace how the development of each type of reasoning is related to changes in these underlying processes. Among the key conclusions of the chapter is that while the development of certain aspects of System 1 processing contributes to age‐related changes in performance on reasoning tasks, the most significant changes in both deductive and inductive reasoning result from key developments in System 2 processing.

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Preschoolers’ generation of different types of counterfactual statements and theory of mind understanding

Cited by 64 publications

References 50 publications

Understanding of emotions based on counterfactual reasoning in children with autism spectrum disorders

Understanding of emotions based on counterfactual reasoning in children with autism spectrum disorders

The Development of Counterfactual Reasoning in Belief Revision

The Development of Reasoning

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