Psychological causation and goal-based episodes: Low-income children's emerging narrative skills

Abstract

This study examined the association between an understanding of psychological causation and the ability of young children to produce goal-based episodes in narratives. Participants were white, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children living in a low income neighborhood in an industrial city in Appalachia ( n = 34). They were asked to “read” Mercer Mayer's A Boy, A Dog, and A Frog to a researcher, and the resulting narrative was examined for use of psychological causation and number of goal-based episodes. Overall 68% of the children used psychological causation and 71% of the participants produced at least one goal-based episode. Use of psychological causation was related to age, and was a stronger predictor of producing goal-based episodes than was either age, or overall language ability. Further research is called for.