Pretending and Imagination in Animals and Children

by Edited by Robert W. Mitchell

• ISBN13: 9780521770309
• ISBN10: 0521770300
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-04-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

It is well known that children's activities are full of pretending and imagination, but it is less appreciated that animals can also show similar activities. This is the first book to focus on comparing and contrasting children's and animals' pretenses and imaginative activities. In this book, overviews of recent research present conflicting interpretations of children's understanding of the psychology of pretense, and describe 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

List of contributors	x
Foreword	xiv
Sue Taylor Parker
Preface and acknowledgments	xvii
I Historical, developmental, and comparative overviews
Imaginative animals, pretending children	3	(20)
Robert W. Mitchell
A history of pretense in animals and children	23	(20)
Robert W. Mitchell
Pretending as representation: a developmental and comparative view	43	(16)
Lorraine McCune
Joanne Agayoff
II Pretense and imagination in children
Language in pretense during the second year: what it can tell us about ``pretending'' in pretense and the ``know-how'' about the mind	59	(14)
Edy Veneziano
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	73	(18)
Pierre-Marie Baudonniere
Sylvie Margules
Soumeya Belkhenchir
Gwennaelle Carn
Florence Pepe
Veronique Warkentin
Caregiver-child social pretend play: what transpires?	91	(11)
Robert D. Kavanaugh
Just through the looking glass: children's understanding of pretense	102	(13)
Angeline Lillard
Young children's understanding of pretense and other fictional mental states	115	(14)
Jacqueline D. Woolley
Pretend play, metarepresentation and theory of mind	129	(13)
Peter K. Smith
Replica toys, stories, and a functional theory of mind	142	(12)
Greta G. Fein
Lynn D. Darling
Lois A. Groth
Young children's animal-role pretend play	154	(13)
Olin Eugene Myers, Jr.
Imaginary companions and elaborate fantasy in childhood: discontinuity with nonhuman animals	167	(16)
Marjorie Taylor
Stephanie M. Carlson
III Pretense and imagination in primates
Pretending in monkeys	183	(13)
Anne Zeller
Pretending primates: play and simulation in the evolution of primate societies	196	(14)
Peter C. Reynolds
Representational capacities for pretense with scale models and photographs in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)	210	(19)
Sarah T. Boysen
Valerie A. Kuhlmeier
Pretending in free-ranging rehabilitant orangutans	229	(12)
Anne E. Russon
Seeing with the mind's eye: eye-covering play in orangutans and Japanese macaques	241	(14)
Anne E. Russon
Paul L. Vasey
Carole Gauthier
Possible precursors of pretend play in nonpretend actions of captive gorillas (Gorilla gorilla)	255	(14)
Juan Carlos Gomez
Beatriz Martin-Andrade
Pretending culture: social and cognitive features of pretense in apes and humans	269	(11)
Warren P. Roberts
Mark A. Krause
Empathy in a bonobo	280	(5)
Ellen J. Ingmanson
Pretend play in a signing gorilla	285	(22)
Marilyn L. Matevia
Francine G. P. Patterson
William A. Hillix
IV Prospects
Exploring pretense in animals and children	307	(10)
Robert W. Mitchell
References	317	(36)
Author Index	353	(9)
Subject Index	362