PSY1004 SEMESTER 2 - WEEK 2 Flashcards
define counterfactual reasoning
ability to reason about situations and events removed from, or in contrary to current reality, including ability to think about past, future, situations with multiple possible outcomes
“if only”
“what if”
name some benefits of counterfactual reasoning
allows thinking and planning ahead to decide most appropriate actions
reflect, learning from mistakes
planning for worst case scenarios
social understanding (If they said that, how would it make me feel)
how does having counterfactual reasoning relate to cognition and time
ability to consider events or possibilities that are physically and temporally not present
“how will you feel tomorrow if late for lecture”- generalise outcome from other scenarios or experiences
what does thinking of what might have been require
- separate self from current reality
- mentally construct alternative version of world where one thing changed
- track how a single change affects rest of world whilst not changing unrelated elements
outline how childrens fixations with present reality result in counterfactual reasoning error
Piaget- children often make realistic errors and egocentric errors as prioritise own POV at expense of other POV
difficulty separating self from view of world age 3, reaches adult level at 12
counterfactual reasoning development- what is the importance of pretend play (around age 18 months)
pretend play needs ability to represent absent object/situation (mental representation) but isn’t same as acting in error, or counterfactual thinking (which involve considering specific way current realities could be different)
creating imaginary world can be done without references to current reality
define pretence
when we act as if something is the case, whilst also correctly perceiving current reality
outline evidence that counterfactual thinking emerges during preschool (Harris et al, 1996) - the sally story
Sally walks across floor with muddy shoes, now floor is dirty, would it be if she took shoes off
age 3, 75% correct
age 4, 85%
what is contradictory research evidence that suggests preschool children cant do counterfactual reasoning (Riggs et al, 1998)
fireman at home, gets phone call about fire, so goes to put out. if there hadn’t been a fire, where would fireman be
cannot answer this through pretending and need to track how story change affects other events
3 years- 47% correct
children can answer Sally study by just using knowledge of world (muddy shoes makes floor dirty) without using coutnerfcautals
outline research evidence which suggests tasks studying counterfactual reasoning only involves simple heuristic (Rafetseder et al, 2013) - cake on shelves
one test question able to be answered by simple reasoning, other needs counterfactual thoughts
cake on top shelf. tall boy and short girl
simple Q- if boy comes along first: can take cake (age 5-6 90%)
complex Q- if girl comes along can she reach cake: if she could would take and if not cake stayed on shelf (age 5-6 20%)
age where CFT develops depend on how we define CFT. child becomes increasingly able to think about differing aspects
at age 3 what level of counterfactual thinking can children do
use real-world knowledge to answer simple counterfactual questions
at age 6 what level of counterfactual thinking can children do
use basic conditional reasoning to answer counterfactual questions
at age 12 what level of counterfactual thinking can children do
reason in more-adult like counterfactual way
how does counterfactual reasoning impact formation of complex emotion
understanding regret and relief involves considerations of both particular situation and comparison to possible alternative
regret: if win money on scratchcard feel positive but if next persons win more, feel negative due to comparison of particular outcome to alternative outcomes
relief: if branch scratch car you’re annoyed but if other cars are fully crushed feel positive as compare particular outcomes to alternative outcome
compare ages 5 and 7 for making comparative judgements for regret and relief by counterfactual reasoning (Amsel et al, 2003. card game)
children choose between cards, receive reward based on card, sometimes other card give better reward and judge how other people feel in same situation
age 5 can judge if ppts happy/sad when particular outcome but don’t understand how they feel if person could compare (cannot make comparative judgements)
age 7, can judge person feel worse if know better alternative etc
what did Kahneman & Tversky (1982) state about adults feelings regarding negative outcomes due to choice/chance
feel worse if negative outcome from something they chose to do rather than chose not to, and if negative outcome arises following unusual action choice rather than habitual action
at which age can children anticipate counterfactual emotion
age 12
give research study supporting idea that children are better when responding to scenarios regarding future event (Robinson & Beck - car garage)
shows child road with 2 garages and toy car drive into one
1. if he drove other way where would he be
2. if next time he drive other way where will he be
age 3: 30% past q, 95% future q
age 4: 60% past q, 90% future q
give research example which suggests children can think about single possibilities but struggle with multiple ones in the future (Beck et al - mouse games)
children shown slide with 2 outlets and placed cotton wool so mouse lands
1. what if next time mouse go other way
2. can you put out cotton wool so he lands safe next time
1st q requires thinking about a single possibility (mouse go either left/right)
2nd q requires thinking about 2 possibilities (mouse goes both left/right)
better performance in question 1
why do children find CFT difficult?
lots of demand on cognitive system - ability to think about temporal alternative are affected by processing demand
outline research study that suggests childrens counterfactual thoughts difficulties is due to processing demand (German & Nichols, 2003)
told child story using pictures, asked 1/3 question with varied length of causal chain
Mrs Rosy in garden, call husband, dog come out, squash flower
short chain q- what if dog hadn’t squished flower, would she be happy/sad
medium- if dog hadn’t escape is she happy/sad
long- if she hadn’t called husband would she be happy/sad
performance worse and chain increases
outline correlation inbetween counterfactual thought and EF/language abilities
CF performance predicted by both IC and language ability suggesting difficulty with CF reasoning due to ignoring what we know to be true
name factors affecting counterfactual reasoning
EF,
language,
understanding of specific grammatical constructions,
domain-specific knowledge,
conceptual changes in understanding of time
outline how factor EF affects counterfactual thoughts
IC, WM and attentional flexibility: to reason with info we know false, need to resist reasoning with what we knows true (IC) so need to told both CF and real info in mind (WM) to make comparison (switch between both- attentional flexibility)
