Tuesday, July 3, 2007

"Close Connection of Pretense and Action in Early Childhood"

Eric Schwitzgebel from University of California has done significant research in regard to Simulation Theory and Early childhood. Here is en excerpt from his research paper published in August 2000. A link to the whole paper is listed below :

" The story runs as follows. One thing that children are really good at from a very early age-two years- is pretend play. They can scoot a block across the floor,pretending it is a truck. They can pretend they are parents giving their baby(a doll) a bath. Our understanding of other minds has been its origin in such childhood pretense. Just as a child can pretend to be a parent, a child can pretend to be her parent in particular. Engaging in such pretense, the child can do essentially what adults do in the imaginative transformations described by simulation theorists, and thus they can understand others' mental states and behaviors. And this,in fact, is how they ordinarily do understand other people's mental states and behavior."

www.faculty.ucr.edu/~eschwitz/SchwitzPapers/Sim000803.pdf

7 comments:

Mary Lou said...

Excellent article to help understand behavior.

Chris said...

The minds of children should always be encourged to excell. You have choosen a very interesting subject topic. Good luck with your blog.

Linda's Blog said...

Very interesting article. I am very lucky to have witnessed the rewards of encouraging childhood play and imagination.My daughter had imaginary friends, lived in a world of play and creativity and she has grow into such a wonderful,intelligent, and caring young woman. It truly is wonderful to see. Keep up the good work! I am enjoying your blog.

Catherine said...

good article Shannon, great to see your research on such an important and relevant to you topic.
happy 4th....

Eileen said...

Imagination in children is the joy of life. We encourage much imaginary play with children of all ages in the hospital setting.I am sharing your blog with our Child Life Specialist who works with all our children. Great article

mcdj74 said...

Great article. I'm glad there are people like you to help foster a child's imagination!

Mary Anne said...

Hi Shannon,
Although your articles are focused mainly on children dreaming and using their imagination, adults need a reminder every now and then to tap in to their resources of creativity and imagination. Adults have dreams too. Sometimes we get so bogged down with work that we forget to play. Thanks for the reminder. Pleasant dreams.
Mary Anne