Are errors in false belief tasks symptomatic of a broader difficulty with counterfactuality?

Riggs, Kevin J.; Peterson, Donald M.; Robinson, Elizabeth J.; Mitchell, Peter

Abstract

When children acknowledge false belief they are handling a counterfactual situation. In three experiments 3-and 4-year-old children were given false belief tasks and physical state tasks which required similar handling of counterfactual situations but which did not require understanding about beliefs or representations: Children were asked to report what the state of the world might be now had an earlier event not occurred. The incidence of realist errors in the false belief and physical state tasks was significantly correlated independently of shared correlations with chronological age and receptive verbal ability. In a fourth experiment, children made significantly fewer realist errors when asked to infer a future hypothetical state. These results provide preliminary evidence consistent with the suggestion that pre-school children's difficulty with false belief is symptomatic of a more general difficulty entertaining counterfactual situations. © 1998 Ablex Publishing All rights of reproduction reserved.

Citation

Riggs, K. J., Peterson, D. M., Robinson, E. J., & Mitchell, P. (1998). Are errors in false belief tasks symptomatic of a broader difficulty with counterfactuality?. Cognitive Development, 13(1), 73-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2014%2898%2990021-1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 4, 1997
• Online Publication Date: Apr 4, 2002
• Publication Date: 1998-01
• Deposit Date: Mar 17, 2022
• Journal: Cognitive Development
• Print ISSN: 0885-2014
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 73-90
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2014%2898%2990021-1
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/1128464