development of reasoning

Reasoning

The cognitive ability to use logic, rationalize, problem-solve, and make judgments based on logical thoughts to understand situations and draw conclusions.

Causality

The ability to determine the cause-effect relationship between different events or actions, allowing individuals to make inferences about the connections they encounter in the world.

Hume's Theory

David Hume's philosophical perspective that individuals acquire knowledge of causality through experiences with the world, forming expectations about outcomes based on past events, and recognizing constant conjunctions between events as indicators of causal relationships.

Causal Inference

The process of inferring causality by observing events and relationships in the world, which can be challenging due to the causal inverse problem and the difficulty in establishing direct causal links between events.

Causal Reasoning Development

The study of how individuals, particularly children, engage in causal reasoning processes, understand cause-effect relationships, and develop the ability to make reasoned judgments about causal connections.

External Variables

Factors outside the main focus of a study that could influence results, such as different class times or varying sleep patterns.

Co-variation

The ability to link one observed phenomenon with another, suggesting a causal relationship when two events consistently occur together.

Contiguity

The principle that events or memories are more likely to be associated when they frequently occur close together in time, leading to the belief that one event causes the other.

Causal Reasoning

The process of determining the true causality between events rather than mere coincidental occurrences, often involving observing relationships between events to infer causality.

Causal Inverse Problem

The challenge of identifying the true cause of an observed effect when other variables or factors are not considered, leading to potential errors in causal links.

Perceptual Contiguity

The difficulty young children face in overcoming the immediate association between two events happening in close succession, leading them to assume a causal relationship based on temporal proximity.

Blickett Detector Task

A quasi-experimental task developed by Alison Gopnik to assess young children's reasoning abilities in determining causality by observing how they make judgments about objects (blickets) based on their interactions with a machine that produces different outcomes.

Associationist Models of Causal Reasoning

The theoretical perspective suggesting that the strength of the association between stimuli and their effects influences how individuals attribute causality, as demonstrated in the Blickett Detector Task where children choose objects based on the frequency of their activation of the machine.

Backwards Blocking

A concept in reasoning where knowledge of the causal status of one item is used to infer the causal status of another, as seen in the example of determining the murderer in a crime scenario, and observed in four-year-olds' reasoning during the Blickett Detector Task.

Four-year-olds' reasoning

Four-year-olds can differentiate between blocks A and B in a blicket detector task, understanding that block A is the blicket while block B is not, as they recognize that the music only plays when both blocks are together.

Three-year-olds' reasoning

Three-year-olds tend to consider both blocks A and B as blickets in a blicket detector task, lacking the ability to differentiate between the two blocks' roles in causing the music to play.

Backwards blocking

Children demonstrate backwards blocking by identifying the blicket block (block A) and then inferring that the non-blicket block (block B) is not the cause of the music playing in the blicket detector task.

Bayesian reasoning

Bayesian reasoning refers to the ability to update predictions based on acquired information, allowing individuals to infer causal relationships between events by considering co-variational evidence and prior knowledge.

Associationist model

The associationist model of causality understanding suggests that individuals learn about associations between events to reason about their relationships, but it may not fully explain the complex reasoning abilities observed in young children, such as engaging in backwards blocking.

Critical evaluation

Considering both strengths and limitations of a concept or task to understand its effectiveness.

Novel artifacts

Introducing new objects to children without prior knowledge to assess reasoning abilities.

Decontextualized reasoning

Difficulties in reasoning about completely novel information without context.

Mechanism

The process by which a cause exerts its influence, important in understanding causal relationships.

Bayesian perspective

A theory suggesting individuals update their assumptions and reasoning based on new evidence.

Prior probabilities

Initial expectations about the likelihood of something being true.

Posterior probabilities

New likelihoods resulting from combining prior probabilities with new data.

Backwards blocking trials

A method to study how children update their beliefs about causal relationships based on new evidence.

Common vs

Changing the frequency of encountered objects to influence children's reasoning in the Blickett detector task.

Developmental perspective

Studying how children reason about causality across different contexts and ages.

Bayesian Reasoning

The ability to update prior probabilities of various explanations into posterior probabilities as more information is acquired.

Causal Properties Inferences

Young children can infer about the causal properties of objects even without direct observation.

Mechanism Understanding

Important for informed reasoning based on preconceived theories.

Over-Hypothesizing

Going beyond direct observation to make predictions based on prior knowledge.

Inductive Constraints

Over hypotheses allow specific predictions about new instances based on past experiences.

Over-hypothesis

Forming expectations based on previous observations to predict future outcomes.

Gambler's Fallacy

Incorrectly inferring that past independent events affect future outcomes.

Three-Door Problem

A brain teaser where individuals must decide whether to stick with their initial choice or switch based on new information.

Group Membership Cues

Characteristics or behaviors associated with belonging to a specific group.

Moral Transgression

Behaviors that go against societal norms or group expectations, leading to negative judgments.

Over-hypothesis

An inductive constraint derived from prior information to make predictions about new events.

Stereotyping

Assuming that individuals within a particular group will act in a certain way based on their group membership.

Gambler's fallacy

Incorrectly believing that prior information influences the outcome of a completely new event, like a coin toss.

Inductions of stereotyping

The process of forming stereotypes or grouping individuals based on prior information, which may lead to inaccuracies.