I Saw the "Real" Father Christmas! Children's Everyday Uses of the Words "Real", "Really", and "Pretend"

Autor/inn/en	Bunce, Louise; Harris, Margaret
Titel	I Saw the "Real" Father Christmas! Children's Everyday Uses of the Words "Real", "Really", and "Pretend"
Quelle	In: British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 26 (2008) 3, S.445-455 (11 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0261-510X
DOI	10.1348/026151007X258733
Schlagwörter	Fantasy; Young Children; Child Development; Developmental Psychology; Age Differences; Interviews; Mothers; Diaries; Speech Communication; Imagination + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Fantasie; Frühe Kindheit; Kindesentwicklung; Entwicklungspsychologie; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Mother; Mutter; Diary; Tagebuch
Abstract	The words "real", "really" and "pretend" are used in developmental research paradigms to reflect both the notions of 'authenticity' (in pretense-reality and appearance-reality research) and 'existence' (in fantasy-reality research). The current study explored whether children also expressed these notions in their everyday uses of "real", "really", and "pretend". Mothers were interviewed and kept diary records, resulting in data for a younger group of children (2- to 3-year-olds, N=80) and an older group (4- to 7-year-olds, N=101). Utterances were analysed according to different uses of the target words and the topic of conversation in which they occurred. The words "real", "really", and "pretend" were used by both the younger and older age groups predominantly to consider the authenticity of things around them. Expression of the notion of existence was less common, particularly among the younger children. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to children's performance in experimental studies, particularly those that intend to question children's understanding of the fantasy-reality distinction. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10