Reasons and Causes: Children's Understanding of Conformity to Social Rules and Physical Laws

Abstract

Abstract The notion of conformity to law is an explanatory principle that appears in commonsense theories of both intentional and natural phenomena. Yet, adults distinguish sharply between conformity mediated by intentions and conformity mediated by physical interactions. To what extent do young children also see these processes as different? Three- to 5-year-old children gave different justifications for why actors “can't” violate physical laws or social rules. Consequences and permission/obligation were said to produce conformity to social rules. Justifications for laws involved reference to physical limitations or explicit statements of impossibility. Two follow-up studies assessed understanding of the role of mental states in producing conformity. Older preschool-aged children (but not 3-year-olds) appreciated that conformity to social rules depended on the knowledge and intentions of actors, whereas conformity to physical laws was independent of mental state. These studies suggest that, by age 5, children recognize different sorts of constraint or modality expressed in laws.

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