How Children Understand the Pragmatics of ‘Why’ Questions

• In Event: Categories and Concepts

Abstract

‘Why’ questions are semantically ambiguous. Consider the question “Why do cats have tails?” This question could imply one of two more specific questions, either “What is the purpose of cats having tails?” (which seeks a teleological explanation) or “How did cats come to have long tails?” (which seeks a mechanistic explanation). Despite this semantic ambiguity, ‘why’ questions are not pragmatically ambiguous: adults have consistent, domain-specific expectations about which kind of question is implied by an ambiguous ‘why’ question (Joo, Yousif, & Keil, 2020). But do children have the same expectations?

Children frequently ask ‘why’ questions (Kelemen et al., 2005; see also Callanan & Oakes, 1992; Chouinard, Harris, & Maratsos, 2007). Indeed, this is how they learn about the world around them. Yet little research has examined how children understand ‘why’ questions. Do children conflate the two possible interpretations of ‘why’ questions? Or do they understand that the same ‘why’ question could be seeking two different kinds of information (i.e., teleological vs. mechanistic)? Understanding how children interpret ‘why’ questions is crucial—for understanding how children seek information, interpreting their explanation preferences, and even for understanding pragmatics more generally.

In a pre-registered sample of 120 children (ages 5-10), we showed children a ‘why’ question and asked them what the person asking the question “really wanted to know.” They were then asked to choose who was right: Someone who said the question-asker really wanted to know a ‘how’ question (i.e., “How did X end up that way?) or someone who said the questions-asker really wanted to know a ‘purpose’ question (i.e., “What is X for?). We tested 16 items, 4 each in the domains of animals, non-living natural kinds, artifacts, and social or human events.

We found that by age 7, children already have an adult-like understanding of ‘why’ questions. Like adults, they expect that ‘why’ questions about animals, artifacts, and social or human events imply ‘purpose’ questions—but that similar ‘why’ questions about non-living natural kinds imply ‘how’ questions (ps<.004). Even at age 6, children have some clear expectations about ‘why’ questions in some domains (animals and artifacts, ps<.04). While pre-school children may encounter ‘why’ questions as ambiguous questions, children develop an understanding of the specific kinds of information implied by asking a ‘why’ question between the ages of 6 and 7. Furthermore, the understanding of these questions seems not to develop all at once: 6-year-olds have adult-like expectations in some domains, but not others.

How children interpret the questions they and adults ask is critical to how they may evaluate and interpret the explanations that follow. Research on children’s explanation preferences often leads with ‘why’ questions (e.g., Kelemen, 1999)—but children, like adults, do *not* pragmatically treat “Why?” as an ambiguous question, and these expectations may already shape what kinds of answers they find satisfactory. These results suggest the need to re-examine not only children’s explanation preferences, but also the pragmatics of the questions we ask as researchers.

Authors

• Sehrang Joo, Yale University
  Presenting Author

• Sami Yousif, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Frank C Keil, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author