ERIC Number: EJ1337817
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-3920
EISSN: N/A
Causal Knowledge and Children's Possibility Judgments
Goulding, Brandon W.; Stonehouse, Emily Elizabeth; Friedman, Ori
Child Development, v93 n3 p794-803 May-Jun 2022
Children often say that strange and improbable events, like eating pickle-flavored ice cream, are impossible. Two experiments explored whether these beliefs are explained by limits in children's causal knowledge. Participants were 423 predominantly White Canadian 4- to 7-year-olds (44% female) tested in 2020-2021. Providing children with causal information about ordinary events did not lead them to affirm that improbable events are possible, and they more often affirmed improbable events after merely learning that a similar event had occurred. However, children were "most" likely to affirm events if they learned "how" similar events happened (OR = 2.16). The findings suggest that knowledge of causal circumstances may only impact children's beliefs about the possibility "after" they are able to draw connections between potential events and known events.
Descriptors: Young Children, Knowledge Level, Attribution Theory, Influences, Foreign Countries, Beliefs
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A