Theories of Pretence

From early in development (18 months, if not earlier) children engage in and recognize pretence. For example, children can pretend that a banana is a telephone, that their juice is in an empty cup, or that a clean teddybear is dirty. Although pretence is often taken for granted, and perhaps considered childish, it is mysterious: How do children pretend, and purposely represent the world as different than it really is? And how are children able to recognize what others pretend? Are children behaviourists about pretend play? Or does successful pretence signal that your children engage in mental state reasoning ('theory of mind')? Theories of children's (and adults') pretence have sought to provide answers to the questions. These theories are still actively debated, and are the main topic of this course. Relevant experimental work will also be discussed.