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Signs of Pretense Across Age and Scenario
Author(s) -
Lillard Angeline,
Nishida Tracy,
Massaro Davide,
Vaish Amrisha,
Ma Lili,
McRoberts Gerald
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1207/s15327078in1101_1
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , consistency (knowledge bases) , context (archaeology) , joint attention , social psychology , cognitive psychology , geography , autism , geometry , mathematics , archaeology
Participation in imagined worlds is a hallmark of the human species, and yet we know little about the context of its early emergence. The experiments reported here replicated and extended in 2 directions Lillard and Witherington's (2004) study of how mothers pretend to have snacks, across different ages of children (15‐ to 24‐month‐olds, Experiment 1) and to a different scenario (personal grooming, Experiment 2). Mothers' pretend behaviors changed little as infants aged, but there were some scenario differences. Most striking in this research was the consistency with which particular maternal pretend behaviors were associated with children engaging in pretense behaviors and smiling. The findings are discussed with reference to the child's emerging skills in joint attention and social referencing.