The appearance-reality distinction and perspective taking with facial masks

Abstract

Little is known about how children perceive themselves while wearing facial masks; how they perceive another person who is wearing a facial mask; or how they believe another person perceives them when they are wearing facial masks. This aspect of the appearance-reality distinction was studied in 60 children, 20 in each of three age groups: 4, 4.5, and 5.5 years old. Each child responded to both an appearance question (“… looks like?”) and a reality question (“… really and truly?”) on each of four trials. Three of the trials involved wearing masks (Wonder Woman, Spiderman, or Bugs Bunny) but the other did not. Each child answered the eight appearance-reality questions under three perspective-taking conditions: self (what the child perceived while looking in a mirror), other (what the child perceived while looking at another), and other’s perspective (what another perceived while looking at the child). In general, the results suggest that the appearance-reality distinction and simple perspective taking are well established by the age of 5.5 years, and that correct responses to reality questions emerge earlier than correct responses to appearance questions.