During the preschool years, children begin to learn that what they believe or what they see may not always be true. This insight provides the basis for understanding many kinds of behavior. For example, understanding that a person might have a belief that is false (e.g., believing her coat is in the closet when actually it is on the bed), that people may be confused by misleading appearances, and that two people viewing the same event may interpret it in different ways all require children to realize that mental representations do not always correspond to the actual state of the world. This research will explore the possibility that children first master the distinction between mental representations and reality in the domain of pretense. Children's ability to maintain a boundary between what is real and what is pretend will be investigated in three experiments in which 3- and 4-year-old children will be asked to imagine a variety of objects under different conditions. In addition, 150 children aged 3 years 6 months, four years, and four years six months will be given tasks assessing their ability and inclination to engage in pretense and their implicit knowledge about mental life. Children who are particularly inclined to engage in pretense are expected to be better able to make a clear distinction between what is imagined and what is real and to be advanced in the development of insight about the mind (e.g., an earlier understanding that people may have false beliefs). Children will also be asked questions about their fantasy lives, including the existence and characteristics of imaginary companions. Thus, in addition to investigating how early fantasy is related to cognitive development, this research will provide descriptive information about a spontaneous form of elaborate pretense that is common (65% of preschool children have imaginary companions), but is not well understood.
