Mechanism-Based Causal Reasoning in Young Children

• Autores: David W. Buchanan, David Sobel
• Localización: Child development, ISSN 0009-3920, Vol. 82, Nº. 6, 2011, págs. 2053-2066
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The hypothesis that children develop an understanding of causal mechanisms was tested across 3 experiments. In Experiment 1 (N = 48), preschoolers had to choose as efficacious either a cause that had worked in the past, but was now disconnected from its effect, or a cause that had failed to work previously, but was now connected. Four-year-olds chose the now-connected cause more often than 3-year-olds. Experiment 2 (N = 16) showed 4-year-olds responded appropriately to an irrelevant modification in the same causal system. Experiment 3 (N = 24) demonstrated when the mechanism was batteries rather than connection, 3-year-olds could properly distinguish between relevant and irrelevant modifications. Together, these data suggest that understanding of specific causal mechanisms develops at different ages.