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ERIC Number: EJ739706
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Aug
Pages: 10
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-0277
EISSN: N/A
What Does Batman Think about SpongeBob? Children's Understanding of the Fantasy/Fantasy Distinction
Skolnick, Deena; Bloom, Paul
Cognition, v101 n1 pB9-B18 Aug 2006
Young children reliably distinguish reality from fantasy; they know that their friends are real and that Batman is not. But it is an open question whether they appreciate, as adults do, that there are multiple fantasy worlds. We test this by asking children and adults about fictional characters' beliefs about other characters who exist either within the same world (e.g., Batman and Robin) or in different worlds (e.g., Batman and SpongeBob). Study 1 found that although both adults and young children distinguish between within-world and across-world types of character relationships, the children make an unexpected mistake: they often claim that Batman thinks that Robin is make believe. Study 2 used a less explicit task, exploring intuitions about the actions of characters--whom they could see, touch, and talk to--and found that children show a mature appreciation of the ontology of fictional worlds.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A