Premium
Who caused it? Interpersonal causal inferences in young children
Author(s) -
VIKAN ARNE,
SKEVIK HELENE
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1992.tb00811.x
Subject(s) - psychology , interpersonal communication , causal inference , developmental psychology , interpersonal violence , human factors and ergonomics , interpersonal relationship , poison control , social psychology , medical emergency , economics , econometrics , medicine
Three experiments were designed to test 4‐ and 6‐year‐old children's causal inferences in interpersonal settings where emotions (glad, angry, and sad) were effect responses. The results showed that emotion and orientation (towards or away from) were central cues, and that sex and age also were used to some extent. Cues related to regularity philosophic notions (e.g. David Hume), such as contiguity in time and space, and time order of cause and effect were little used by comparison. The results raise questions about the basic role attributed to regularity cues both by philosophers and psychologists, and suggest a multiple cue contribution rather than a basic cue generaluation approach to causal cognition development.