Children's competence or adults' incompetence: different developmental trajectories in different tasks

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Decision-Making Science

Background:

• Dual-process theories explain reasoning via normative and heuristic pathways.
• Standard theories predict increasing normative responses with age.
• Recent research explores exceptions, including developmental increases in heuristic responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate developmental trends in normative and heuristic causal reasoning.
• Examine the influence of superstitious thinking on these trends.
• Analyze reasoning patterns across different age groups and problem types.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted using if-only and covariation causal reasoning problems.
• Participants included fifth graders, seventh graders, and adults.
• A superstitious element was introduced to half of the problems in each experiment.

Main Results:

• In if-only problems, normative responses decreased and heuristic responses increased with age; superstitious elements had minimal impact.
• In covariation problems, adults generally outperformed children, showing age-related increases in normative responses.
• Children excelled with highly discrepant data, and belief bias was observed when evaluating superstitious rituals.

Conclusions:

• Developmental trends in reasoning are complex and problem-dependent, not always aligning with standard dual-process predictions.
• Heuristic (intuitive) processes can develop or persist across age groups.
• Belief bias can override normative reasoning, even in younger participants.