Revisiting the 5- to 7-year shift: The age of metacognitive control?

The term 5- to 7-year shift refers to the marked changes in behavior observed as children transition from preschool age to school age. In 1996, a seminal book (Sameroff, A. J., & Haith, M. M. (Eds.). (1996). The five to seven year shift: The age of reason and responsibility. University of Chicago Press) synthesized developmental science's understanding of the causes and consequences of this shift. Has this understanding evolved in the last 30 years? In this article, we examine recent lines of research that provide new insights into the substantial developmental changes occurring between ages 5 and 7, including the emerging benefits of active learning, the onset of counterfactual reasoning, and growing sensitivity to social norms. While the role of environmental factors remains debated, recent evidence highlights metacognitive control as a central driver of the 5- to 7-year shift. During this period, children can increasingly translate the outcomes of their monitoring processes into action, enabling more flexible, goal-directed regulation of learning and social behavior.