Individual Differences in Young Children's Pretend Play with Mother and Sibling: Links to Relationships and Understanding of Other People's Feelings and Beliefs

Abstract

50 33-month-old children were observed at home with their siblings and mothers. Observational measures of pretend play, observer ratings of the child's, mother's, and sibling's behavior, and measures of family discourse about feelings were collected. At 40 months each child was assessed on Bartsch and Wellman's false beliefs task and Denham's affective perspective taking task. Results revealed individual differences in the amount and sophistication of young children's social pretend play and suggested that these individual differences are related to experiences in the relationships that young children have with their mothers and siblings. Results also indicated that early social pretend play was significantly related to the child's developing understanding of other people's feelings and beliefs. The data are interpreted as providing support for the notion that early experience in social pretense is associated with children's mastery of the relation between mental life and real life. The importance of considering the relationship context of social pretense is also discussed.

Associations among false-belief understanding, executive function, and social competence: A longitudinal analysis

“…There was also support for the opposite association, in which social competence in preschool accounted for unique variance in FBU in kindergarten. This finding supports the theory that positive social interaction motivates the acquisition of FBU (Flavell et al, 1987; Youngblade & Dunn, 1995). Taken together, these results indicate a reciprocal association between FBU and social competence, which is consistent with the notion that the ability to understand one's own and other's minds promotes favorable social interaction, and that constructive social interactions present the opportunity for learning more about mental states (Astington, 2003; Hughes & Leekam, 2004).…”

“…This theory is based on the premise that children's experiences with other people's thoughts and beliefs during pretend play may increase their awareness of the distinction between mental states and reality, which would foster FBU (Flavell, Flavell, & Green, 1987; Youngblade & Dunn, 1995). Empirical support for this theory is found in the literature, albeit via a broad interpretation of social competence.…”

Prevention, the appropriate target of infant psychotherapy

“…One of these may be pretend play. Securely attached children manifest stronger engagement in fantasy play (Rosenberg, 1984, cited in Carlsson & Sroufe, 1995 and children who are better able to engage in joint pretend play do better on tests of "mind reading" and emotion understanding (Youngblade & Dunn, 1995). It is possible that the experience of sharing a world of pretend may foster an understanding of the mental states of others and that this capacity is in turn facilitated by secure attachments in infancy.…”

Antisocial, Angry, and Unsympathetic: “Hard‐to‐manage” Preschoolers' Peer Problems and Possible Cognitive Influences

“…Accelerated development in falsebelief comprehension has been associated with a number of positive outcomes for children's peer interactions, including increases in shared pretend play (Hughes & Dunn, 1997 ;M. Taylor & Carlson, 1997 ;Youngblade & Dunn, 1995) and connectedness of communication (Slomkowski & Dunn, 1996). Delays in understanding false belief can therefore be hypothesised to be associated with diverse problems in interpersonal interactions.…”