To eat the cookie or not to eat the cookie: that is the question - children's understanding of conflicting desires

Abstract

The purpose of the current experiments was to examine children's ability to comprehend conflicting desires (e.g., "I want to go to my friend's house for a birthday party because there will be cake, but I also don't want to go because I'm having fun playing video games at home"). In both of two experiments, undergraduate students were tested on the conflicting desires task to ensure that the measures were designed and interpreted appropriately. Executive functioning and theory of mind abilities were also assessed and were compared to children's ability to understand conflicting desires. In Experiment 1, participants were 4- to 7-year-old children and the conflicting desires task utilized a forced­choice response paradigm. Results showed that the 6- and 7-year-old children understood conflicting desires at levels that were well above chance. There was evidence that even some of the 5-year-olds exhibited an emerging comprehension of conflicting desires. However, the 4-year-olds showed little-to-no ability to appreciate conflicting desire states. Significant relationships were observed between conflicting desire understanding and theory of mind and executive functioning skills, even after controlling for chronological age and receptive vocabulary. In Experiment 2, participants were 4- and 5-year-old children and the procedure was modified to be more engaging and supportive for younger age groups. With these modifications, some children as young as 4 years of age were able to successfully interpret situations which involved conflicting desires. However, there were no significant relationships between conflicting desire understanding and either theory of mind or executive functioning skills in the second experiment, potentially due to the more restricted age range and reduced variability on the conflicting desires task. ln sum, careful consideration and modification of task demands allowed children as young as 4 years of age to demonstrate a preliminary understanding of conflicting desires, and this understanding may be aided by more well-developed theory of mind and executive functioning skills.