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Self-projection in Early Development: Preschoolers’ Reasoning about Changes in Their Future and Past Preferences

ABSTRACT Our ability to shift from current to alternative (e.g., past and future) perspectives (i.e., “self-projection”) plays a fundamental role in accurate decision-making. We investigated 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds’ ability to shift perspective to reason about their future and past preferences. In Experiment 1 (N = 96), children were presented with pairs of adult- and child-preferable items and asked to select what they preferred “now” and in the future, whereas in Experiment 2 (N = 96), children were presented with pairs of baby- and child-preferable items and asked to select what they preferred “now” and in the past. Children were also asked to rate how much they liked each item using a novel continuous measure of preferences (i.e., faces scale). In Experiment 1, 3-year-olds performed significantly below chance, whereas 4- and 5-year-olds were at chance in selecting the appropriate adult-preferable items for their future self. Four- a.007; 4-year-olds, p < .001nd 5-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, demonstrated some understanding of changes in their future preferences by reporting that they will like child-preferable items less and adult-preferable items more in the future than they do now. In Experiment 2, 3- and 4-year-olds were at chance in selecting the appropriate baby-preferable items for their past self, whereas 5-year-olds were significantly above chance. Corresponding preference ratings significantly improved with age. Exploratory cross-experiment analyses revealed that children were more accurate when reasoning about past than future preferences. Our results provide new insights on children’s reasoning about preferences and possible differences in their ability to self-project into the future and past.