Exploring Developmental Change in Preschoolers' Causal Stance

• In Event: The Development of Curiosity: How Children Approach Information and ask Questions to Gain Knowledge

Abstract

From an early age, children show a keen interest in discovering the causal structure of the world (e.g., Schulz and Bonawitz, 2007; Alvarez & Booth, 2016). Given how fundamental causal information is to scientific inquiry and knowledge, this early emerging "causal stance" might be important in propelling the development of scientific literacy. Consistent with this possibility, the strength of children's causal stance at 3-years correlates significantly with scientific literacy both concurrently and a year later (Booth, Shavlik and Haden, 2020; DelGrande, Shavlik & Booth, 2019).

Despite its potential importance, we currently know little about the development of children's causal stance. As a group, children might express a strong and enduring causal stance from the start, reflecting a stable biological predisposition to discover how the world works (Gopnik, 2000). On the other hand, increasing sophistication of children’s ability to reason about, and understand, causal phenomenon might support greater attunement with age (Muentner & Bonawitz, 2017; Kuhn, 2012). At an individual level, Alvarez and Booth (2016) reported stability in children’s casual stance over the short term in 3-year-olds, but it is not clear whether this stability maintains over longer time scales. In light of the association between causal stance and parental input observed at 3-years (Booth, Shavlik & Haden, 2020), changes in experience accompanying children's preschool entry and progression might be expected to modify causal interests. In the current study, we explore these possibilities by measuring children's causal stance longitudinally at 3, 4, and 5 years of age.

As part of a larger study, 153 children from diverse backgrounds (30% Hispanic, 13% African-American, 28% mothers with no more than a high school degree) were evaluated at three (M = 3.41), four (M = 4.58), and five (M = 5.43) years of age. The strength of children's causal stance was measured as the average of the following tasks:
● Causal preference (Wave 1-3): On each of 10 trials, children chose between seeing a hidden part or hearing a causally-relevant description of a novel object.
● Picture inquiry (Wave 1 & 2): On each of 10 trials, children asked questions about a pictured novel object, which were coded for their causal content.
● Object inquiry (Waves 1-3): Children asked questions about six novel objects.

All analyses are the pooled results of 100 iterations of multiply imputed data. A repeated-measure ANOVA revealed an overall increase in children's composite causal stance score with age, F(1,151) = 235.05, p < .001 (see Table 1). Future research will be necessary to determine if this is due to improved capabilities related to the detection and interpretation of causal information, or to a greater awareness of the value of causal information. Interestingly, causal stance scores did not correlate significantly with themselves across age, suggesting lack of individual stability (all ps > .07). Although consistent with recent evidence connecting children's causal stance to experiential input, it will be necessary to more precisely document these relationships over time to determine why the strength of children’s causal stance fails to coalesce into a stable trait during the preschool years.

Authors

• Margaret Shavlik, Vanderbilt University
  Presenting Author

• Amy E Booth, Vanderbilt University
  Non-Presenting Author