TY - JOUR
T1 - Children's Causal Explanations of Psychogenic Bodily Reactions
AU - Toyama, Noriko
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2013/3
Y1 - 2013/3
N2 - In Experiment 1, 4-, 5-, 8- and 11-year-old Japanese children (n=69) and adults (n=21) explained their reasons for bodily induced reactions (e.g. overeating leads to vomiting) and psychogenic bodily reactions (bodily outcomes originating in the mind, e.g. frustration leads to vomiting). Children gave vitalistic explanations, that is, explaining causal connections by referring to a vital force, in responses concerning bodily induced reactions, whereas adults typically gave these explanations in responses concerning psychogenic bodily reactions. In Experiment 2, 5-, 8- and 11-year-old children (n=96) and adults (n=24) explained bodily induced and psychogenic bodily reactions, and psychological behaviour, for example, that frustration leads to nail biting. As in Experiment 1, vitalistic explanations tended to be found for psychogenic tasks but were seldom found in either children's or adults' explanations of psychological behaviour. The findings suggest that with age vitalistic causality obtains cross mind-body implications.
AB - In Experiment 1, 4-, 5-, 8- and 11-year-old Japanese children (n=69) and adults (n=21) explained their reasons for bodily induced reactions (e.g. overeating leads to vomiting) and psychogenic bodily reactions (bodily outcomes originating in the mind, e.g. frustration leads to vomiting). Children gave vitalistic explanations, that is, explaining causal connections by referring to a vital force, in responses concerning bodily induced reactions, whereas adults typically gave these explanations in responses concerning psychogenic bodily reactions. In Experiment 2, 5-, 8- and 11-year-old children (n=96) and adults (n=24) explained bodily induced and psychogenic bodily reactions, and psychological behaviour, for example, that frustration leads to nail biting. As in Experiment 1, vitalistic explanations tended to be found for psychogenic tasks but were seldom found in either children's or adults' explanations of psychological behaviour. The findings suggest that with age vitalistic causality obtains cross mind-body implications.
KW - Causal explanations
KW - Cross-domain awareness
KW - Naive biology
KW - Psychogenic bodily reactions
KW - Vitalistic causality
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U2 - 10.1002/icd.1791
DO - 10.1002/icd.1791
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84875638900
VL - 22
SP - 216
EP - 234
JO - Infant and Child Development
JF - Infant and Child Development
SN - 1522-7227
IS - 2
ER -