Preschoolers' generation of different types of counterfactual statements and theory of mind understanding

Two studies examined associations between theory of mind performance and counterfactual thinking using both antecedent and consequent counterfactual tasks. Moreover, the studies examined children's abilities to generate different types of counterfactual statements in terms of direction and structure. Participants were 3-,4-, and 5-year-old children (N = 81 and 103 in Studies 1 and 2, respectively). In both studies overall number of counterfactual statements generated as well as generation of specific types of counterfactuals accounted for significant variance in theory of mind performance beyond age and language. Results also indicated that children, similar to adults, generated certain types of counterfactuals with more ease than others. Data suggest that counterfactual thinking accounts, at least partially, for children's theory of mind performance. Implications for current understanding of counterfactual reasoning and theory of mind development are discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.