Why does "this" refer to the parent class although a child class object calls the method?

Question

I think I did not understand something related to Inheritance or the this statement.
If I execute a method of a parent class, which calls another function implemented in the child class,
this refers to the function of the parent class although the Object executing the parent's class function is a child class object.
For example:
Parent Class Methods
public BookingConfirmation templateMethod(BigDecimal value) {
        try {
            Boolean authenticate = this.authenticate();
            if (!authenticate)
                // TODO Write own Exception for this Case
                throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Das Konto wurde nicht erfolgreich authentifiziert!");

System.out.println(this.getClass().toString());

this.bookTransaction(new BigDecimal("100"));
            BookingConfirmation bookingConfirmation = this.createBookingConfirmation();
            return bookingConfirmation;
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            return null;
        }
    }

protected BookingConfirmation createBookingConfirmation() {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Not implemented yet");
    }

Child Class Implementation:
protected BookingConfirmation createBookingConfirmation(BigDecimal value) {
        try {
            String title = "Überweisung von Konto " + this.id.toString() + " in der Höhe von " + value.toString() + " Euro";
            BookingConfirmation bookingConfirmation = new BookingConfirmation(title);

return bookingConfirmation;
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
            return null;
        }
    }

Turing85 · Accepted Answer

The methods in parent and child have different signatures

In parent: createBookingConfirmation()
In child: createBookingConfirmation(BigDecimal)

Thus, the method is not overridden, but overloaded and as consequence
BookingConfirmation bookingConfirmation = this.createBookingConfirmation();

always calls the method in the parent class. A fix would be to give the parent class method a BigDecimal parameter.
If a method of a parent class is overridden by a method of the child class, the correct child-class method will be called at runtime. The underlying concept is known as dynamic dispatch.

To prevent these kinds of mishaps, we should always annotate methods that are meant to override methods of supertypes with @Override. The compiler will generate a compiler error if the annotated method does not override a method in at least one supertype.

A remark on the wording of the question: As was pointed out by JCWasmx86 in the comments, one cannot cast a method. What one can cast is a variable.

Why does "this" refer to the parent class although a child class object calls the method?

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