ABSTRACT
We study how young children interpret a conditional statement as revealed by their action. We aimed to identify when the Finettian interpretation of a conditional request emerges developmentally. In this interpretation a conditional “if p then q” is a tri-event q|p that is true if p and q are true, false if p is true and q false, and null if p is false. The task was administered individually to 229 children aged 4 to 10 years. They were shown a hungry pink panther that asked them to select a particular fruit among a set of fruits comprising yellow and green apples and yellow and green pears. Two requests were tested: a conditional request, “ If you give me an apple, I want a yellow apple”, and a conjunctive request, “I want a yellow apple.” The results show that for the conditional request (i) the conditional (Finettian) interpretation increased with age (from 21% for the 4–5-year-olds, to 63% for the 10-year-olds), (ii) the proportion of conjunctive interpretations was relatively stable across age (around 40%), and (iii) children did not have a material conditional interpretation. The majority of children (right from the age of 4) correctly interpreted the conjunctive request as a conjunction.
