This dissertation investigates self-projection (i.e., future and past preferences reasoning) and possible underlying mechanisms [Theory of Mind (ToM), executive function (EF)] in early development. All children were tested in person prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our first objective was to explore preschoolers' understanding that the preferences they may hold in the future (Future Preferences task, adapted from Bélanger, Atance, Varghese, Nguyen, & Vendetti, 2014; Experiment 1), and likely held in the past (Past Preferences task; Experiment 2), differ from their current preferences. To do so, we implemented a novel continuous measure of children's preferences (faces rating scale; Kopp et al., 2017; adapted from; Wong & Baker, 1988) in addition to the more standard categorical response measure (item selection) used in children's future preferences reasoning research (Bélanger et al.). In addressing our second objective to investigate children's past preferences reasoning, we designed a new task (Past Preferences task) to complement our Future Preferences task. In Chapter 2 (Experiments 1 & 2), we found 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds' success in reasoning about their future and past preferences generally improved with age. Results from our continuous preferences measure further revealed subtle developments in preschoolers' preferences reasoning not gleaned from our categorical data alone. We found that, around age 4, children demonstrate some understanding that they will prefer child items less and adult items more in the future (as an adult) than they do now and, around age 3, children similarly demonstrate some understanding that they preferred child items less in the past (as a baby) than they do now. While cross-experiment comparison in Chapter 2 revealed asymmetry in preschoolers' preferences reasoning (future, relative to past, preferences reasoning was more challenging), this asymmetry was not replicated in Chapter 3 using a more rigorous within-subjects design. Besides clarification of asymmetry in preferences reasoning, our final objectives were to confirm the relation between preschoolers' reasoning about changes in their future and past preferences and explore possible mechanisms underlying children’s self-projective abilities. In Chapter 3, children's ability to reason about their future and past preferences were significantly correlated - but not after controlling for their receptive language ability. Unexpectedly, we did not find support for asymmetry in children's self-projection abilities; that is, children did not find it more difficult to reason about their future as compared to their past preferences. Finally, children's future and past preferences reasoning were not related to or predicted by their performance on the ToM and EF tasks after controlling for age, language ability, and sex. Taken together, this dissertation provides unique and timely contributions to the literature on self-projection and, specifically, how this capacity develops, as well as children’s reasoning about how preferences change over time.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/44359 |
| Date | 07 December 2022 |
| Creators | Kopp, Leia |
| Contributors | Atance, Cristina |
| Publisher | Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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