Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:42:29.912Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Imaginative processes in children are not particularly imaginative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Deena Skolnick Weisberg Open the ORCID record for Deena Skolnick Weisberg [Opens in a new window]  and
David M. Sobel
Deena Skolnick Weisberg
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Villanova University, Tolentine Hall, Villanova, PA 19085, USAdeena.weisberg@villanova.edustarlabkids.org
David M. Sobel
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USAdave_sobel@brown.edu; causalityandmindlab.wordpress.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The authors argue that children prefer fictions with imaginary worlds. But evidence from the developmental literature challenges this claim. Children's choices of stories and story events show that they often prefer realism. Further, work on the imagination's relation to counterfactual reasoning suggests that an attraction to unrealistic fiction would undermine the imagination's role in helping children understand reality.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e303
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barnes, J. L., Bernstein, E., & Bloom, P. (2015). Fact or fiction? Children's preferences for real versus make-believe stories. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 34(3), 243–258. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276236614568632CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchsbaum, D., Bridgers, S., Weisberg, D. S., & Gopnik, A. (2012). The power of possibility: Causal learning, counterfactual reasoning, and pretend play. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 367(1599), 2202–2212. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0122CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bunce, L., & Woolley, J. D. (2021). Fantasy orientation and creativity in childhood: A closer look. Cognitive Development, 57, 100979. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100979CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gopnik, A., & Walker, C. M. (2013). Considering counterfactuals: The relationship between causal learning and pretend play. American Journal of Play, 6(1), 15–28.Google Scholar
Nyhout, A., & Ganea, P. A. (2019). The development of the counterfactual imagination. Child Development Perspectives, 13(4), 254–259. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12348CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierucci, J. M., O'Brien, C. T., McInnis, M. A., Gilpin, A. T., & Barber, A. B. (2013). Fantasy orientation constructs and related executive function development in preschool: Developmental benefits to executive functions by being a fantasy-oriented child. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38(1), 62–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025413508512CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schacter, D. L. (2012). Adaptive constructive processes and the future of memory. American Psychologist, 67(8), 603–613. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029869CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seelau, E. P., Seelau, S. M., Wells, G. L., & Windschitl, P. D. (1995). Counterfactual constraints. In Roese, N. J. & Olson, J. M. (Eds.), What might have been: The social psychology of counterfactual thinking (pp. 57–80). Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Sobel, D. M., & Weisberg, D. S. (2014). Tell me a story: How children's developing domain knowledge affects their story construction. Journal of Cognition and Development, 15(3), 465–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2012.736111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taggart, J., Becker, I., Rauen, J., Al Kallas, H., & Lillard, A. S. (2020). What shall we do: Pretend or real? Preschoolers’ choices and parents’ perceptions. Journal of Cognition and Development, 21(2), 261–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/15248372.2019.1709469CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taggart, J., Heise, M. J., & Lillard, A. S. (2017). The real thing: Preschoolers prefer actual activities to pretend ones. Developmental Science, 21(3), e12582. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12582CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, M. (1999). Imaginary companions and the children who create them. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, M., Mottweiler, C. M., Aguiar, N. R., Naylor, E. R., & Levernier, J. G. (2020). Paracosms: The imaginary worlds of middle childhood. Child Development, 91(1), e164–e178. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13162CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thibodeau, R. B., Gilpin, A. T., Brown, M. M., & Meyer, B. A. (2016). The effects of fantastical pretend-play on the development of executive functions: An intervention study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 145, 120–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.01.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisberg, D. S. (2020). Is imagination constrained enough for science? In Levy, A. & Godfrey-Smith, P. (Eds.), The scientific imagination: Philosophical and psychological perspectives (pp. 250–261). Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisberg, D. S., & Gopnik, A. (2013). Pretense, counterfactuals, and Bayesian causal models: Why what is not real really matters. Cognitive Science, 37(7), 1368–1381. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12069CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisberg, D. S., Sobel, D. M., Goodstein, J., & Bloom, P. (2013). Young children are reality-prone when thinking about stories. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 13(3–4), 383–407. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12342100CrossRefGoogle Scholar