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Origin and Truth: Young Children's Understanding of Imaginary Mental Representations
Author(s) -
Woolley Jacqueline D.,
Wellman Henry M.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1993.tb02892.x
Subject(s) - the imaginary , psychology , perception , mental representation , confusion , theory of mind , developmental psychology , mental state , cognitive psychology , cognition , psychoanalysis , neuroscience
In 2 studies, we address young children's understanding of the origin and representational relations of imagination, a fictional mental state, and contrast this with their understanding of knowledge, an epistemic mental state. In the first study, 54 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children received 2 tasks to assess their understanding of origins, and 4 stories to assess their understanding of representational relations. Children of both ages understood that, whereas perception is necessary for knowledge, it is irrelevant for imagination. Results for children's understanding of representational relations revealed intriguing developmental differences. Although children understood that knowledge represents reality more truthfully than imagination, 3‐year‐olds often claimed that imagination reflected reality. The second study provided additional evidence that younger 3‐year‐olds judge that imaginary representations truthfully reflect reality. We propose that children's responses indicate an early understanding of the distinction between mental states and the world, but also a confusion regarding the extent to which mental contents represent the physical world.