Counterfactual thinking in children

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to examine how children imagine counterfactual alternatives to reality, that is, how they think about situations that once were possible, but are so no longer. We report six experiments, comprising of two series of experiments, which focus on the development of counterfactual thinking from early to middle childhood. We examine counterfactual thinking in children aged 3- and 4 years, and in children aged 6- and 8 years. We aim to examine the mental representations that children keep in mind when they think about counterfactual situations.