“He hasn’t got the real toolkit!” Young children’s reasoning about real/not-real status.

Abstract

During the preschool years, children develop an understanding of 2 types of real/not-real distinctions: ontological status and authenticity (Bunce & Harris, 2008). Two studies compared 3- to 5-year-old children's real/not-real judgments and justifications for 3 types of contrast involving a real entity and either a fictional character, a child dressing-up, or a Lego toy. As expected, all children discriminated between the real entities and toys and dressing-up, and they justified their judgments on the basis of authenticity. In contrast, only older children consistently discriminated between the real entities and fictional characters on the basis of ontological status. In Study 2, the real and not-real entities were presented as pairs rather than individually to define the intended contrast. This manipulation increased children's ability to discriminate between the real and not-real entities on the basis of authenticity. Together, these results support the hypothesis that understanding reality status on the basis of authenticity develops before ontological status. The development of reasoning about real/not-real status is discussed.