Do Temporal Distance and Event Frequency Influence Children’s Future Event Representations?

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Cognitive Processes

Abstract

Although future thinking develops between ages 3 and 5, we know little about whether children represent near and distant future events differently. Around 7- to 9-years-old, children think about the near future with more episodic detail (Wang et al., 2014), and more clarity (Coughlin et al., 2014) than the distant future. However, the effects of temporal distance on children’s event representations have never been examined from a Construal-level Theory (CLT) perspective or using a design that directly compares near and distant future event representations (i.e., by presenting the same events in both conditions). According to CLT, adults represent events in the near future concretely (i.e., “low-level” construal), whereas distant future events are represented in an abstract, goal-oriented fashion (i.e., “high-level” construal; Liberman & Trope, 1998). We investigated whether both temporal distance (i.e., “near” vs “distant”) and frequency (i.e., “frequent” vs “infrequent”) impacted the construal level (i.e., abstract vs. concrete) of children’s future event representations. Using a between-subjects design, 92 5- to 7-year-olds described engaging in six events (e.g., “swimming”) either “soon” (near future; n = 45) or “a long time from now” (distant future; n = 47). Half of the events were considered “frequent” (e.g., snack) and the other half “infrequent” (e.g., restaurant). We examined several variables to discern whether each representation was concrete or abstract. For example, children rated how clear the event representation was in their mind and also whether it adhered to a “low” or “high” construal level. We also coded the amount of detail (i.e., clauses, verbs, nouns, personal pronouns, and adjectives) and uncertainty (e.g., use of terms like “maybe”) in children’s event representations. We hypothesized that near events would be more concrete (i.e., more detail, less uncertainty, clearer, and more “low-level” construal) than distant ones. A series of 2 (temporal distance: near vs. distant) X 2 (frequency: frequent vs. infrequent) X 3 (age: 5 vs. 6 vs. 7-year-olds) mixed ANOVAs were run for all dependent variables. Although temporal distance did not influence children’s event representations (ps>.05, ηp2s<.03), event frequency did. Infrequent events included more details, were rated as clearer, and tended to be construed at a higher level than frequent events, (ps<.04, ηp2s>.05; see Table 1). Finally, 5-year-olds (M=.47, SE=.03) endorsed more low-level construals than 6- (M=.36, SE=.03) and 7-year-olds (M=.35; SE=.04), F(2,79)=3.81, p=.03, ηp2=.09, although age did not influence any other variables examined (ps>.05, ηp2s<.07). Results suggest that temporal distance may not influence the construal level of young children’s event representations, perhaps because abstract thinking is still developing. However, event frequency may be an important factor in children’s future thinking. Implications for the nature of young children’s representational systems and CLT are discussed.

Authors

• Bronwyn Michelle O'Brien, University of Ottawa
  Presenting Author

• Maja Greenspon, University of Ottawa
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lojain Hamwi, Carleton University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alex W Castro, University of Ottawa
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cristina Atance, University of Ottawa
  Non-Presenting Author