Doctoral Dissertation Research: Understanding possibilities in children's counterfactual reasoning

博士论文研究：理解儿童反事实推理的可能性

• 批准号: 2234592
• 负责人: Ailis Cournane
• 金额: $ 0.91万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-03-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2234592&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Understanding; possibilities

Counterfactual conditional sentences (e.g., “If giraffes had fins, they would swim”) involve an antecedent (e.g., “If giraffes had fins”) which is false in the actual state of affairs. They also involve a consequent (e.g., “they would swim”), which is true given the antecedent. Reasoning about counterfactual conditionals requires thinking about possibilities, and being able to choose among them in a principled manner. Despite the conceptual complexity involved in temporarily imagining falsehoods as true, humans can readily reason about possibilities arising from counterfactual antecedents. This form of reasoning develops fairly late for children, due to the complexity involved in choosing among different possibilities. To further our understanding of these abilities, the researchers analyze children’s use (i.e., their production and understanding) of these sentences, and the kinds of possibilities children are able to reason over when they are thinking of non-actual state of affairs. Developing and practicing children’s counterfactual reasoning abilities is crucial for both critical and scientific thinking, benefiting children’s ability to control variables when testing hypotheses. Counterfactual reasoning is also closely related to emotional and social development, for example, when understanding regret and relief. By understanding which counterfactuals facilitate development, the researchers encourage children at an earlier age, or when they have developmental difficulties, to respond to counterfactual prompts, and thereby foster more complex forms of reasoning.This doctoral dissertation project answers the following open questions: How do the possibilities arising from counterfactual situations that children think about differ from the ones that adults think about? Do children consider more possibilities than adults when reasoning counterfactually? Finally, do children’s possibilities involve any linguistic and conceptual features which adults do not use? To answer these questions, the researchers conduct five studies. Two studies examine children’s production of counterfactual conditionals – considering the types of sentences children use, and the ways in which they differ from those of adults, looking at both children’s natural production of counterfactuals (e.g., produced contexts where they are playing or having a casual conversation with a caregiver), as well as production elicited through experimental prompts. The other three studies examine children’s reasoning when hearing counterfactual utterances. The researchers ask targeted experimental questions (e.g., “If giraffes had fins, could they swim?”) and analyze children’s responses to understand the ways in which the possibilities they reason over differ from those of adults.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

反事实条件句(例如，“如果长颈鹿有鳍，它们会游泳”)包含一个先行条件句(例如，如果长颈鹿有鳍)，这在实际情况下是错误的。它们还包含后果式(例如，“他们会游泳”)，这在先行式的情况下是正确的。对反事实条件句的推理需要考虑可能性，并能够有原则地在其中进行选择。尽管暂时将虚假想象为真实涉及到概念上的复杂性，但人类可以很容易地推理出反事实先行因素产生的可能性。对于儿童来说，这种推理方式发展得相当晚，因为在不同的可能性中进行选择的过程非常复杂。为了进一步理解这些能力，研究人员分析了儿童对这些句子的使用(即他们的产生和理解)，以及当他们思考非实际情况时，儿童能够推理的可能性的类型。培养和练习儿童的反事实推理能力对批判性思维和科学思维都是至关重要的，有利于儿童在检验假设时控制变量的能力。反事实推理也与情绪和社会发展密切相关，例如，当理解后悔和宽慰时。通过了解哪些反事实有助于发展，研究人员鼓励年龄较小的儿童，或当他们有发展困难时，对反事实提示做出反应，从而培养更复杂的推理形式。这篇博士论文项目回答了以下开放的问题：儿童思考的反事实情景产生的可能性与成年人思考的不同？在进行反事实推理时，儿童是否比成年人考虑更多的可能性？最后，儿童的可能性是否涉及成人不会使用的语言和概念特征？为了回答这些问题，研究人员进行了五项研究。两项研究考察了儿童对反事实条件句的产生--考虑了儿童使用的句子的类型，以及它们与成人句子的不同之处，既考察了儿童对反事实的自然产生(例如，他们在玩耍或与照顾者随意交谈时产生的语境)，也考察了通过实验提示产生的反事实条件句。其他三项研究考察了儿童在听到反事实话语时的推理能力。研究人员提出了有针对性的实验问题(例如，如果长颈鹿有鳍，它们会游泳吗？)并分析儿童的反应，以了解他们推理的可能性与成年人的不同之处。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。