Young children separate multiple pretend worlds

Each fictional world that adults create has its own distinct properties, separating it from other fictional worlds. Here we explore whether this separation also exists for young children's pretend game worlds. Studies 1 and 1A set up two simultaneous games and encouraged children to create appr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental science 2009-09, Vol.12 (5), p.699-705
Main Authors: Skolnick Weisberg, Deena, Bloom, Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age Factors
Chi-Square Distribution
Child Development
Child, Preschool
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive Processes
Concept Formation - physiology
Creativity
Developmental psychology
Fantasy
Female
Games
Humans
Imagination
Imitative Behavior - physiology
Male
Memory - physiology
Play and Playthings
Preschool Children
Random Allocation
Vocabulary
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Summary:Each fictional world that adults create has its own distinct properties, separating it from other fictional worlds. Here we explore whether this separation also exists for young children's pretend game worlds. Studies 1 and 1A set up two simultaneous games and encouraged children to create appropriate pretend identities for coloured blocks. When prompted with a situation that required the use of a Game 1 object in Game 2, 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds were reluctant to move pretend objects between games, even when the alternative‐world object was explicitly highlighted as a possible choice. Study 2 found the same effect when the two game worlds were presented sequentially. This suggests that, even for young children, multiple pretend game worlds are kept psychologically separate.
ISSN:1363-755X
1467-7687
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00819.x