Competition as rational action: Why young children cannot appreciate competitive games

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23182381


J Exp Child Psychol. 2012 Nov 22. pii: S0022-0965(12)00198-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.10.008. [Epub ahead of print]

Competition as rational action: Why young children cannot appreciate competitive games.
Priewasser B, Roessler J, Perner J.
Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria. Electronic address: beate.priewasser@sbg.ac.at.

Abstract
Understanding rational actions requires perspective taking both with respect to means and with respect to objectives. This study addresses the question of whether the two kinds of perspective taking develop simultaneously or in sequence. It is argued that evidence from competitive behavior is best suited for settling this issue. A total of 71 kindergarten children between 3 and 5years of age participated in a competitive game of dice and were tested on two traditional false belief stories as well as on several control tasks (verbal intelligence, inhibitory control, and working memory). The frequency of competitive poaching moves in the game correlated with correct predictions of mistaken actions in the false belief task. Hierarchical linear regression after controlling for age and control variables showed that false belief understanding significantly predicted the amount of poaching moves. The results speak for an interrelated development of the capacity for "instrumental" and "telic" perspective taking. They are discussed in the light of teleology as opposed to theory use and simulation.