Pretending and Imagination in Animals and Children

by Edited by Robert W. Mitchell

• ISBN13: 9780521283328
• ISBN10: 0521283329
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-16
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book provides an overview of recent research presenting conflicting interpretations of children's understanding of the psychology of pretense and describes sociocultural factors which influence children's pretenses. Studies of nonhuman primates provide examples of their pretenses and other simulative activities, explore their representational and imaginative capacities and compare their skills with children. Although the psychological requirements for pretending are controversial, evidence presented in this volume suggests that great apes and even monkeys may share capacities for imagination with children and that children's early pretenses may be less psychological than they appear.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface and acknowledgements

Historical, Developmental and Comparative Overviews

Imaginative animals, pretending children

A history of pretense in animals and children

Pretending as representation: a developmental and comparative view

Pretense and Imagination in Children

Language in pretense in the second year: what it can tell us about 'pretending' in pretense and the 'know-how' about the mind

A longitudinal and cross-sectional study of the emergence of the symbolic function in children between 15 and 19 months of age: pretend play, object permanence understanding and self-recognition

Caregiver-child social pretend play: what transpires?

Just through the looking-glass: children's understanding of pretense

Young children's understanding of pretense and other fictional mental states

Pretend play, metarepresentation and theory of mind

Replica toys, stories and a functional theory of mind

Young children's animal-role pretend play

Imaginary companions and elaborate fantasy in childhood: discontinuity with nonhuman animals

Pretense and Imagination in Primates

Pretending in monkeys

Pretending primates: play and simulation in the evolution of primate societies

Representational capacities for pretense with scale models and photographs in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Pretending in free-ranging rehabilitant orangutans

Seeing with the mind's eye: eye-covering play in orangutans and Japanese macaques

Possible precursors of pretend play in nonpretend actions of captive gorillas (Gorilla gorilla)

Pretending culture: social and cognitive features of pretense in apes and humans

Empathy in a bonobo

Pretend play in a signalling gorilla Marilyn L. Matevia, Francine

Prospects

Exploring pretense in animals and children

References

Index

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