DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY COURSEWORK ESSAY COVER SHEET YEAR 3 - TERM 1 2008 2009 PS3041 Advanc d D v !"#$ n%a! P&'c("!

;!")' C"*+& C""+d,na%"+- D+. / ann S(,n&0 ' A 2,500 word essay (please see regulat o!s "elow o! word le!gt#$ W(' d" c(,!d+ n &"$ %,$ & (av d,11,c*!%' d,&%,n)*,&(,n) #+ % nc 1+"$ + a!,%'2 (50% o& assess'e!t$ DEADL3NE FOR SU4M3SS3ONNO LATER THAN 15 NOON THURSDAY 4%( DECEM4ER 5006
RE7U3REMENTS

( Please submit electronically via the departmental web based submission link
* To assist with blind-marking please put your STUDENT N ! on the "ront page o" your essay! * Please use a word processor# double-spacing with a minimum "ont si$e o" %& point! D ad!,n & 1"+ &*8$,&&,"n $*&% 8 &%+,c%!' ad( + d %". P na!%, & 1"+ !a% &*8$,&&,"n1) *or wor+ su"' tted up to 2, #ours late, t#e 'ar+ w ll "e redu-ed "y te! per-e!tage 'ar+s, su".e-t to a ' ! 'u' 'ar+ o& a ' ! 'u' /ass) 2) *or wor+ su"' tted 'ore t#a! 2, #ours late, t#e 'a0 'u' 'ar+ w ll "e 1ero) An' &%*d n% n"% ac(, v,n) a% ! a&% a #a&& $a+0 1"+ %( c"*+& 9"+0 9,!! n"% #a&& %( c"*+& "v +a!!. E0te!s o!s w ll o!ly "e gra!ted ! e0-ept o!al - r-u'sta!-es, )e) ser ous ll!ess, "erea2e'e!t, &a' ly -r s s or !2ol2e'e!t ! a road a-- de!t) Re3uests 'ust "e 'ade to t#e 4ourse 4oord !ator, ! wr t !g, a--o'pa! ed "y a 'ed -al -ert & -ate or ot#er support !g e2 de!-e, at least & 2e wor+ !g days "e&ore t#e deadl !e, us !g t#e Re3uest &or 4oursewor+ E0te!s o! &or' o"ta !a"le &ro' A!gela 5ay, 5epart'e!tal Ad' ! strator, 6ol&so! 217) Retrospe-t 2e e0te!s o!s w ll !ot "e gra!ted)

H $,& N*$8 + 88100532238888888)

W"+d C"*n% 825,788888)

P!a),a+,&$ D c!a+a%,"n /lag ar s' -o!s sts o& a perso! prese!t !g a!ot#er perso!9s deas, & !d !gs or wor+ as t#e r ow! "y -opy !g or reprodu- !g t#e wor+ w t#out due a-+!owledge'e!t o& t#e sour-e) T#e :! 2ers ty regards plag ar s' as a 2ery ser ous o&&e!-e) At t#e 2ery least, t s a ' suse o& a-ade' - -o!2e!t o!s or t#e result o& poor re&ere!- !g pra-t -e) 6#ere t s del "erate a!d syste'at -, plag ar s' s -#eat !g) ;y -o'plet !g t# s de-larat o!, you are -o!& r' !g ! wr tte! &or' t#at t#e wor+ you are su"' tt !g s or g !al a!d does !ot -o!ta ! a!y plag ar sed 'ater al) 6#e! plag ar s' s suspe-ted ! a!y wor+, t w ll "e s-rut ! 1ed &urt#er ! l !e w t# -ollege pol -y) *urt#er'ore, to ass st w t# plag ar s' dete-t o! t#e 5epart'e!t s 'ple'e!t !g ra!do' -#e-+s o& all -oursewor+) 6e w ll re3uest ele-tro! - -op es o& essays ( ! e t#er e-'a l atta-#'e!t or d s+ &or'$ &ro' 5% o& all -oursewor+ su"' ss o!s, sele-ted at ra!do') You 'ust t#ere&ore +eep a! ele-tro! - -opy o& your -oursewor+ &or at least ' weeks a&ter t#e deadl !e &or su"' ss o! o& t#e -oursewor+) <& you are as+ed to su"' t a! ele-tro! - 2ers o! o& your -oursewor+ you 'ust do t# s w t# ! 7 days o& re-e 2 !g t#e re3uest)

< -o!& r' t#at t# s ass g!'e!t s 'y ow! wor+ a!d t#at t#e wor+ o& ot#er perso!s #as "ee! &ully a-+!owledged)

YE= >?

A COMPLETED COPY OF TH3S SHEET MUST 4E SU4M3TTED W3TH YOUR ESSAY

100532238

/=30,1

Play has always been considered a critical aspect of child development as it is the way in which children explore the world, learn about their abilities and interact with other people. Childrens mastery of motor, social and cognitive skills is demonstrated through their play activities as they become more sophisticated and complicated with age. Jean Piaget, a pioneer in developmental cognitive psychology, took great interest in play development and in 1 !" suggested a three#stage theory accounting for the differences between types of play in different age groups. $ccording to his theory, the first stage is the sensorimotor stage %& to " years' during which children mostly engage in physical play, the second is the symbolic stage %" to ( years' during which children engage in pretense play, role playing and fantasy games, and lastly the third stage %from ( years onwards' involves games with rules. Piaget was particularly concerned with pretense play and its cognitive significance and suggested that symbolic play is the way in which children practice imagination. Pretend play in young children is an important cognitive as well as social activity, and sensitivity to social signals can be heightened by engaging early in pretend play with parents or siblings. $ correlation between pretend play and later cognitive abilities such as representing false beliefs %)eslie, 1 *+' and hypothetical thinking %,arris, "&&&' has been demonstrated in several studies. -uring pretense children make non#literal use of ob.ects or actions and being able to distinguish between the real and the imaginary is necessary in order for this to occur. /eing able to separate pretense from reality is crucial for children while they are discovering the world around them and interacting with other people. 0ven though young children do have an understanding of this difference, this cognitive ability is fragile and can differ

100532238

/=30,1

across situations. 1n the following essay the reasons why children have difficulties distinguishing between pretence and reality will be explained and discussed.

)illard %"&&2' has conducted several studies investigating the importance of pretend play in cognitive development. $s she points out, pretense is innate and is demonstrated universally even though it does not have any apparent survival value. 1t is an early sign of humans uni3ue capability of using symbols and it usually emerges between 1* and "2 months. )illard%"&&2' argues that pretense plays an important role in the development of social cognition as it involves social referencing and demonstrates an understanding of mental state thinking and theory of mind. $dults smile and look more when pretending %)illard 4 5itherington, "&&2' and children are able to pick up on those cues when they are in an ambiguous situation. Pretense also involves an understanding of intentions and this was demonstrated in a study by ,arris 4 6avanaugh %1 7' in which they showed that " year olds would pretend to

dry a toy after the experimenters pretended to pour tea over it which shows that the children were able to understand the intensions of the experimenter. )illard%"&&2' also pointed out that even though pretend play is universal there are some cultural differences. /oth the amount as well as the themes of pretense play can vary across different cultures and several studies have demonstrated these differences. $ study conducted by 8arver 4 ,owes %1 7' showed that children in the 9nited :tates and ;urkey displayed more

pretence play that children in <uatemala, 1ndia and =exico. ,aight et al %1 ' demonstrated differences in pretend play themes between the 9nited

100532238

/=30,1

:tates and ;aiwan with 9: children engaging more in fantasy pretense play whereas ;aiwan children engaged more in social role pretend play. Childrens cognitive abilities develop as they grow older and conse3uently pretense play evolves as well. /etween 1 and " years of age is when pretense play first appears and initially it only represents !#1&> of play activities. 1n this stage pretense play involves children reproducing actions based on either their personal experience or observation of other people and by age two children are able to react to pretending by other people. 1n the second stage, which usually begins at four years, children start engaging in sociodramatic pretense, and social roles and imitation of reality become the dominant features of pretense play. Pretend play starts diminishing around 1& years of age, and while some researchers argue that it disappears, some believe that it is channeled through other activities.

-uring pretense games with a partner %a parent, a sibling or a friend' children are expected to understand which parts of what their partner says and does is part of the pretense play and which parts have to do with the real world. -i)alla 4 5atson %1 **' conducted an experiment in which they investigated how children can keep up with real#life demands while engaging in pretense play. Children were observed while playing a game of pretense and the experimenters tried to introduce interruptions and changes to the game such as changing their role in the story or exiting the room and leaving the child alone for a while. ;heir findings suggested that even though older children were comfortable with the interruptions and were able to incorporate suggested changes in their stories, 7 year olds had difficulties with resuming

100532238

/=30,1

their game after it had been interrupted and accepting changes in roles suggested by the experimenters. ;he authors attributed these differences to the fact that young children have difficulties with separating pretence from reality. $s mentioned above, pretense play involves several cognitive skills? however, separating fantasy from reality, in contrast to social referencing and understanding intentions, does not appear outside of pretense domain until children are older. 0ven though logic suggests that young children should be able to distinguish between pretense and reality, cases of confusion do exist and there are several reasons why this happens. 1nitially, age has been shown to have an effect on the level of childrens understanding of the differences between reality and pretense. 8lavell, <reen 4 8lavell%1 * ' conducted an experiment in which they exposed children to ob.ects that were purposively deceptive, for example a candle that looked like an apple. ;hey then asked the children first what did the ob.ect look like and second what was it really and they found a significant difference between children of 7 and 2 years of age. 0ven though 2#year#olds were able to give correct answers to both the 3uestions, 7#year#olds answered both 3uestions in the same way which indicates that younger children have greater difficulty with distinguishing pretense from reality. -eloache 4 Plaet@er %1 *!' investigated mother#child pretense play in children from 1! to 7& months and saw signs of confusion in "!> of the children. ;hey suggested that this confusion occurs because the mothers level of pretending was too elaborate for children of that age.

100532238

/=30,1

$s mentioned above, the distinction between reality and appearance can be challenging for young children. 8lavell and his colleagues demonstrated that 7 years olds show confusion when presented with deceptive ob.ects however they suggested that when the idea of pretending is incorporated in the task children can show an earlier understanding. )illard%1 7' conducted a study

investigating this idea in which she used a pretense version of the standard appearance reality paradigm used by 8lavel et al. 1n this study children were looking at an adult pretending to be eating the apple#candle and where then asked whether the adult was pretending it was an apple or a candle and whether it looked like an apple or a candle. Childrens performance on the pretense 3uestion was significantly better than the appearance 3uestion which suggests that pretense is a function that keeps mental and real events separately in an early age. $nother reason why children sometimes get confused when trying to distinguish pretense from reality is that they do not have sufficient knowledge of the event to .udge its nature. Children often confuse events they see on ;A as being real, for example a marriage on B;he /rady /unchC %-owns, 1 &'.

)ack of knowledge on the technology of the television also often leads to children asking how people on shows they are watching got into the ;A. -an@iger%"&&&' described a similar confusion being demonstrated by =opan =ayan adults when they were shown a cartoon of B;he Jungle /ookC and were en3uiring whether it was real. ;he fact that both children in -owns study and adults in -an@igers showed confusion when watching ;A, demonstrates the fact that their lack of knowledge on the technology and the make#believe nature of ;A created difficulties in them separating pretense from reality.

100532238

/=30,1

$nother occasion in which children have great difficulty in separating reality from pretence is the case of supernatural entities such as :anta Claus or the ;ooth 8airy. 8or young children, parents are the most reliable source of truth and in many cases parents intentionally deceive their children to believe in supernatural entities. ;he combination of absence of cues from the parents and the social and cultural support of these beliefs lead children to believe for example in :anta Claus after their parents have told them about him and they have seen him on ;A and malls. Dther supernatural entities such as witches and ghosts are often portrayed in a human like form in stories and movies which confuses children in believing they are real. $dditionally, young children can also appear confused when asking to classify entities with which they have little or no experience. -ue to the fact that childrens stories are filled with animals or ob.ects behaving like humans, when asked whether an imaginary entity %for example a moose cooking in a kitchen', is real, children can appear confused %:amuels 4 ;aylor 1 2'.

Chidrens belief in magic can also be considered as an indication of their difficulty with distinguishing pretense from reality. :ubbotsky %1 *!' conducted a study in which he told children from 2 to ( years of age a story about a magic box that would bring pictures to life if someone said certain magic words. 0ven though +!> of 2#year#olds and all of the ! and (#year#olds had initially denied the possibility of this box working &> of all the children tried to make the box work by saying the magic words when left alone to play with it. $lthough, :ubbotskys study suggests that children do not have clear boundaries between what is real and what is imaginary when it comes to magic, ;aylor%1 ' argued the opposite. :he suggested that due to the fact

100532238

/=30,1

that children of that age are still learning about the physical world, when presented with a BmagicalC fact by an adult, they might think they are learning something new about the world. )astly, childrens difficulty in distinguishing pretence from reality is also apparent during scary pretense situations. Children sometimes appear truly scared and ask to stop playing during scary pretense play %<arvey 4 /erndt, 1 +!'. ,arris et al.%1 1' conducted a study in which they asked children to

imagine that a monster was in a box and found that children would avoid the box after imagining a scary creature in it. 1n a later study by 6avanaugh 4 ,arris %"&&&', pairs of children were observed discussing seriously the possibility of the existence of the monster in the box after being asked to imagine it and being left alone in a room. ,arris et al suggested that this might occur because children sometimes think that entities can cross the boundary between fantasy and reality and that what they imagine can come true. ,owever, this misconception does not indicate a general misunderstanding about the boundaries between real and imaginary as the emotional effect of being scared plays a very important role. 5oolley 4 Phelps%1 2' conducted

a study in which they asked children to imagine a non#scary ob.ect in a box and found that when they asked them to give the imaginary ob.ect to the experimenter, children did not try to retrieve it from the box. ;his shows that children did not believe that the non#scary ob.ect could cross the boundaries between fantasy and reality and come true. ,arris %"&&&' considered physiological reactions to be the reason why children have difficulty distinguishing pretence from reality when in a scary pretence situation. Physiological reactions to real and pretense scary situations are very similar

100532238

/=30,1

and both evoke fear %)ang, 1 *2' and children often consider their emotions as cues to reality. 8urthermore, childrens inability to successfully monitor sources makes it hard for them to reali@e that the source of the fear they are experiencing is their own imagination and not part of reality %8oley, ,arris 4 ,ermann, 1 2'. ,owever, research on the effects of emotions in childrens

ability to separate pretence from reality conducted by Carrick 4 Euas %"&&(' demonstrated different findings. 1n this study, children were shown pictures of real and imaginary positive and negative events and were then asked to rate the possibility of the event happening. 8or both real and imaginary events children rated positive events as more likely to happen that negative events, which, in the opinion of the researchers, demonstrates childrens emotion regulation strategies.

Pretense play and its role in the development of childrens cognitive abilities have been studied extensively over the last decades. 1ts innate nature and the fact that it demonstrates an understanding of mental state thinking, theory of mind and intentions are some of the reason why it is of great interest for developmental psychologists. 5hen it comes to separating pretense from reality even though children seem to have an early understanding of this distinction there are some factors that make it more difficult for them. 1nitially, age has been shown to be a factor as several studies have demonstrated that younger children have more difficulty in distinguishing pretense from reality than older children. )ack of sufficient knowledge on an event can also lead to confusion as children often mistake events they have seen on ;A as being real due to lack of knowledge on the technology of the television. Parents and

100532238

/=30,1

society, which are the main sources of knowledge for young children, often contribute to childrens misinterpretation of reality as they portray fictional characters such as :anta Claus to be real. Childrens belief in supernatural entities and magic has also been considered as an indication of childrens difficulties with distinguishing pretense from reality. 0xtensive research has been conducted on the effects of emotions on childrens perception of what is real and what is not and while some studies indicate that frightening events are more likely to be considered to be real, others suggest the opposite. Childrens ability to engage in pretense situations and distinguish between reality and imagination is fascinating for developmental psychologists. $t an age when children are still learning about the world, most of their play time involves stepping outside reality and entering into the world of imagination, and as they grow older this activity becomes more complex and elaborate. Fesearch on this area mentioned earlier in this essay, has helped in understanding the connection between pretense play and later cognitive abilities and the reasons why children might encounter difficulties while distinguishing pretense from reality. ,owever, there are still unanswered 3uestions concerning this matter which re3uire more research. Cultural and individual differences should be studied more extensively as well as the cognitive mechanisms taking place while separating pretense from reality in order to have a better understanding of this fascinating ability that children possess.

10

100532238 R 1 + nc &

/=30,1

4arr -+, >), A Buas, C) A) (200@$) E&&e-ts o& 5 s-rete E'ot o!s o! You!g 4# ldre!9s A" l ty to 5 s-er! *a!tasy a!d Real ty) Developmental Psychology# '&, 1278-1288) 5eloa-#e, C) =), A /laet1er, ;) (1985$) Tea &or TwoD Co !t Mot#er-4# ld =y'"ol - /lay) :!pu"l s#ed /aper, =o- ety &or Resear-# ! -# ld 5e2elop'e!t, Toro!to) 5 lalla, E) *), A 6atso!, M) 6) (1988$) 5 &&ere!t at o! o& *a!tasy a!d Real tyE /res-#ooler9s Rea-t o!s to <!terrupt o!s ! t#e r /lay) Developmental Psychology, 2,(2$, 28@-291) 5ow!s, A) 4) (1990$) 4# ldre!9s Cudge'e!ts o& Tele2 sed E2e!tsD T#e Real 2ersus /rete!d 5 st !-t o!) Perceptual and (otor Skills, 70(3$, 779-782) *ar2er, C), A Fowes, 4) (1993$) 4ultural 5 &&ere!-es ! A'er -a! a!d Me0 -a! Mot#er 4# ld /rete!d /lay) (errill-Palmer)uarterly, 39, 3,,-358) *la2ell, C)F), Gree!, *)E), A *la2ell, E)R) (1989$) A Tra!s t o!al /er od ! t#e 5e2elop'e!t o& Appeara!-e-Real ty 5 st !-t o!) *nternational +ournal o" ,ehavioral Development, 12 (,$, 509-52@) *oley, M)A), Farr s, C)*), A Fer'a!!, =) (199,$) 5e2elop'e!tal 4o'par so!s o& t#e A" l ty to 5 s-r ' !ate ;etwee! Me'or es &or =y'"ol - /lay E!a-t'e!ts) Developmental Psychology, 30, 20@217) Gar!ey, 4), A ;er!dt, R) (1975$) rgani$ation in Pretend Play) /aper prese!ted at t#e a!!ual 4o!2e!t o! o& t#e A'er -a! /sy-#olog -al Asso- at o!, 4# -ago) Goswa' , :) (200,$) ,lackwell -andbook o" .hildhood .ognitive Development! ?0&ordD ;la-+well /u"l s# !g) Fa g#t, 6), 6a!g, H), *u!g, F), 6 ll a's, I), A M !t1, C) (1999$) <! 2ersal, 5e2elop'e!tal, a!d Jar a"le Aspe-ts o& You!g 4# ldre!9s /layD A 4ross-4ultural 4o'par so! o& /rete!d !g at Fo'e) .hild Development, 70(@$, 1,77-1,88) Farr s, M), A ;utterwort#, G) (2002$) Developmental Psychology/ 0 Student1s -andbook ) Fo2eD /sy-#ology /ress) Farr s, /) E) (2000$) The 2ork o" the *magination! ?0&ordD ;la-+well) Farr s, /)E), ;row!, E), Marr ott, 4), 6# ttall, =), A Far'er, =) (1991$) Mo!sters, G#osts, a!d 6 t-#esD Test !g t#e E ' ts o& *a!tast-Real ty 5 st !-t o! ! You!g 4# ldre!) ,ritish +ournal o" Developmental Psychology, 9, 105-123) Farr s, /)E), A Ia2a!aug#, R)5) (1993$) You!g 4# ldre!9s :!dersta!d !g o& /rete!se) (onographs o" the Society "or 3esearch in .hild Development# 58 (1$) Ea!g, /)C) (198,$) .ognition in Emotion/ .oncept and 0ction) <! 4)E) <1ard, C) Iaga!, A R);) Ka.o!- (Eds)$, E'ot o!s, -og! t o!, a!d "e#a2 or (pp) 192-22@$) 4a'"r dgeD 4a'"r dge :! 2ers ty /ress) Eesl e, A)M) (1987$) /rete!se a!d Represe!tat o!D T#e ?r g !s o& LT#eory o& M !dM) Psychological 3eview, 9,, ,12-,2@)

11

100532238

/=30,1

E llard, A)=) (1993$) You!g 4# ldre!Ns 4o!-eptual 1at o! o& /rete!seD A-t o! or Me!tal Represe!tat o!al =tateO .hild Development# 4'# 372-38@) E llard, A)=) (200,$) 5 s-r ' !at !g /rete!se a!d Real =!a-+sD A *u!da'e!tal /ro"le' ! Early =o- al 4og! t o!) ,ritish Developmental Psychology 5orum# 4&# 9-17) E llard, A), A =o"el, 5) (1999$) E o! I !gs or /upp esDT#e <!&lue!-e o& *a!tasy o! 4# ldre!9s :!dersta!d !g o& /rete!se) Developmental Science, 2(1$, 75-80) E llard, A)=), A 6 t#er !gto!, 5)=) (200,$) Mot#ersN ;e#a2 or Mod & -at o!s dur !g /rete!se =!a-+s a!d t#e r /oss "le = g!al Jalue &or Toddlers) Developmental Psychology# '6# 95-113) / aget, C) (1952$) T#e rigins o" *ntelligence in .hildren) >ew Yor+D ;as - ;oo+s) =a'uels, A), A Taylor, M) (199,$) 4# ldre!9s A" l ty to 5 st !gu s# *a!tasy e2e!ts &ro' Real-E &e E2e!ts! ,ritish +ournal o" Developmental Psychology# 12, ,17,27) =or , 4) *), A Fe-+er, E) E) (2003$) The Therapist7s Notebook "or .hildren and 0dolescents/ -omework# -andouts# and 0ctivities "or Use in Psychotherapy) >ew Yor+D Fawort# /ress) =pode+, ;), A =ara-#o, ?) >) (200@$) -andbook o" 3esearch on the Education o" 8oung .hildren! Eo!do!D Routledge) =u""ots+y, E)J) (1985$) /res-#ool 4# ldre!9s /er-ept o! o& :!usual /#e!o'e!a) Soviet Psychology# &9(3$, 9111,) Taylor, M) (1999$) *maginary .ompanions and the .hildren 2ho .reate Them) >ew Yor+D ?0&ord :! 2ers ty /ress) Taylor, M) (2001$) *maginary .ompanions and the .hildren 2ho .reate Them) >ew Yor+D ?0&ord :! 2ers ty /ress) 6ooley, C) 5), A /#elps, I) E) (199,$) You!g 4# ldre!9s /ra-t -al Reaso! !g A"out <'ag !at o!! ,ritish +ournal o" Developmental Psychology# 12, 53-@7) Yaw+ey T) 5), A Co#!so!, C) E) (1988$) *ntegrative Processes and Sociali$ation/ Early to (iddle .hildhood! >ew CerseyD Eawre!-e Erl"au' Asso- ates)

12