Reasoning about counterfactual choices and responsibility judgements in children

Judgements of responsibility are foundational to human social life. Adults judge responsibility by considering not just what someone chose to do, but also the alternative choices available to them. Thus, the development of adult-like responsibility judgements in children depends on their capacity to reason about counterfactual choices. In this Review, we distinguish three key elements of this capacity: understanding that counterfactual choices are possible, successfully reasoning about counterfactual worlds, and identifying the most relevant counterfactuals in any given situation. This framework clarifies the relationship between counterfactual reasoning and responsibility judgements in childhood, identifies conceptually distinct elements of children’s understanding of responsibility, and opens up avenues for inquiry into an essential element of children’s social reasoning. Adults judge responsibility by considering not just what someone chose to do, but also the alternative choices available to them. In this Review, Gautam and Cushman consider three processes involved in children’s understanding of counterfactual choices and their relation to responsibility judgements.