Children's use of counterfactual thinking in causal reasoning
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2022, Journal of Experimental Child PsychologyCitation Excerpt :Specifically, when reasoning about how events would have unfolded if things had happened differently in the past (i.e., counterfactual reasoning), children must draw on their knowledge of how those events are causally dependent (Gopnik & Schulz, 2007; Harris, German, & Mills, 1996; Lewis, 1973; Mackie, 1974; Pearl, 2000). In their foundational study of children’s counterfactual reasoning capabilities, Harris et al. (1996) told 3- to 5-year-olds a story about a character who left her muddy shoes on when entering the kitchen. Even some of the youngest children tested were able to specify that the floor would not have been dirty if the character had taken off her muddy shoes.
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Present address: Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex CO4 3SQ, UK.