Young children separate multiple pretend worlds.

Full Abstract

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.

Author information

Author/s: Weisberg, Deena Skolnick (DS); Bloom, Paul (P);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Yale University, USA. deenasw(-atsign-)ruccs.rutgers.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Developmental science (Dev Sci), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Sep; vol 12 (issue 5) : pp 699-705

Dates: Created 2009/08/25; Completed 2009/11/02;

PMID: 19702762, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/2/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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