The Role of Domain-specific Causal Mechanism and Domain-general Conditional Probability in Young Children's Causal Reasoning on Physics and Psychology

영역특정론과 영역일반론에 따른 유아의 인과추론 - 물리, 심리 영역을 중심으로 -

The role of domain-specific causal mechanism information and domain-general conditional probability in young children's causal reasoning on physics and psychology was investigated with the participation of 121 3-year-olds and 121 4-year-olds recruited from seven child care centers in Seoul, Kyonggi Province, and Busan. Children watched moving pictures on physical and psychological phenomena, and were asked to choose an appropriate cause and justify their choice. Results showed that young children's causal reasoning differed depending on domain-specific mechanism. In addition, their causal reasoning on physics and psychology differed by the developmental level of causal mechanism. The interaction of domain-specific mechanism and domain-general conditional probability influenced children's causal reasoning : evident conditional probability between domain-appropriate cause and effect helped children make more inferences based on domain-specific causal mechanism.