The Relation of Age and Social Class Factors in Children's Social Pretend Play to Cognitive and Symbolic Ability

Abstract

The relation of social class differences in the social pretend play of five- to seven-year-old children to their cognitive skills was examined. The amount and symbolic features of social pretend play were noted in small-group freeplay sessions. Conservation, verbal symbol substitution, and role-playing skills were assessed individually as measures of cognitive symbolic skill. Middle class children engaged in more social pretend play, their pretend episodes lasted longer, and their conservation and verbal symbol substitution skills were greater. However, amount and duration of social pretend play were unrelated to conservation and verbal symbolic skills, and on the whole did not increase with age. These results provide no evidence that social class differences in social pretend play in the late preschool and early elementary school years reflect differing cognitive abilities, and have implications for pretend play training studies at this age.