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Development of beliefs about storybook reality
Jacqueline D. Woolley
The University of Texas
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Is it real?
The credulity view
“ Children are especially credulous, especially gullible, especially prone toward acceptance and belief…” (Gilbert, 1991, p. 111)
“Children are naturally credulous… it is easy to see why natural selection… might penalize an experimental and skeptical turn of mind and favor simple credulity in children” (Dawkins, 1995, p. 32-33).
Children and storybooks
“Any time children share a book about an experience that they have not personally had, or about a place they have not been, they are undoubtedly learning something new about the world.”
VanKleeck (2003)
How do children make sure they’re learning about the real world?
3 questions
1. What do children believe about the reality status of characters and events in storybooks?
2. How do children reason about the reality status of novel entities in storybooks?
3. How do parents talk to children about novel entities in storybooks?
Study 1: 3 types of book
Realistic(e.g., Owen and the Mountain)
Fantastical(e.g., There’s Something in my Attic)
Religious(e.g., Daniel in the Lion’s Den)
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1. Event question: Owen climbed a mountain with his grandfather. Could that really happen in real life or just in the story?
2. Character question: Is Owen just a person in the book or is he a real person?
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Mean number claims events could happen
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
3-year-olds 4-year-olds 5-year-oldsMean number claims events could happen
Fantastical
Realistic
Religious
Woolley and Cox, in press
Mean number claims the character is real
Woolley and Cox, in press
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
3-year-olds 4-year-olds 5-year-olds
Mean number claims character is real
fantastical
realistic
relgious
Senses of reality
Factuality - real in actuality, historically real. Character really existed.
Event really happened.
Possibility - representative of reality.Someone like character could exist.
That type of event could happen.
Character questionsFactuality: “Is Owen a real person or is he just a person in the story?”Possibility: “In real life, could there be someone who is like Owen…or not?”
Event questionsFactuality: “Did Owen climb the mountain in real life or just in the story?”Possibility: “In real life, could someone climb a mountain or is that just in the story?”
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Mean number claims character is real (Factuality question)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
4-year-olds 5-year-olds
Mean number claims the character is real
Fantastical
Realistic
Religious
Woolley and Cox, in press
Mean number claims events did happen (Factuality question)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
4-year-olds 5-year-oldsMean number claims events did happen
Fantastical
Realistic
Religious
Woolley and Cox, in press
Mean number claims events could happen (Possibility question)
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
4-year-olds 5-year-oldsMean number claims events could happen
Fantastical
Realistic
Religious
Woolley and Cox, in press
Study 3: Book types
Girl in ocean
Mermaid in ocean
Girl in enchanted sea
Mermaid in enchanted sea
Character Status Real Fantastical
Real
SettingStatus
Fantastical
Study 3 results
1. Children were skeptical of the reality status of the novel entities.
2. The reality status of the character did not affect judgments about the reality status of the novel entity.
3. The reality of the setting did affect judgments.
Study 3: Mean claims novel entity is real by context condition
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
4-year-olds 5-year-oldsLevel of Belief in Novel Entity
Realistic
Fantastical
Conclusions
1. Young children are skeptical of the reality status of storybook characters and events.
2. By age 3, children differentiate between different types of storybooks in terms of their reality status.
3. With age, children increasingly accept more storybook content as real or realistic.
4. By age 5, children can use storybook context to reason about novel entities.
Current studies
Parents read storybooks to childrenIn half, parents believe novel
entity to be real.In half, parents believe novel
entity to be pretend.How do parents talk to children
about the stories?
