Children's Thinking About Counterfactuals and Future Hypotheticals as Possibilities

Authors: Beck, Sarah R.¹; Robinson, Elizabeth J.²; Carroll, Daniel J.¹; Apperly, Ian A.¹

Source: Child Development, Volume 77, Number 2, March 2006 , pp. 413-426(14)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

Two experiments explored whether children's correct answers to counterfactual and future hypothetical questions were based on an understanding of possibilities. Children played a game in which a toy mouse could run down either 1 of 2 slides. Children found it difficult to mark physically both possible outcomes, compared to reporting a single hypothetical future event, “What if next time he goes the other way …” (Experiment 1: 3–4-year-olds and 4–5-year-olds), or a single counterfactual event, “What if he had gone the other way …?” (Experiment 2: 3–4-year-olds and 5–6-year-olds). An open counterfactual question, “Could he have gone anywhere else?,” which required thinking about the counterfactual as an alternative possibility, was also relatively difficult.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00879.x

Affiliations: 1: University of Birmingham 2: University of Warwick

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