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Pre‐school children remembering unpleasant events: complying with the unwritten rules of an invisible game
Author(s) -
Sjöberg Rickard L.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.723
Subject(s) - psychology , fantasy , interview , social psychology , developmental psychology , literature , law , art , political science
Forty‐eight children between the ages 5 and 7 were as part of a standardized interview asked whether they had ever had the impression that they had met a ghost. Twenty‐six children were explicitly told to separate fantasy and reality when answering, whereas the remaining children were not. This instruction significantly reduced the number of alleged encounters with ghosts. It is concluded that children who are asked whether they have been part of events which they regard as fantastical might perceive the rules by which fantasy and reality should be separated as temporarily altered by the interviewer. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.