Development of beliefs about storybook reality

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Development of beliefs about storybook reality
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Is it real?
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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).

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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 theyre learning about
  the real world?

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2 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?

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Study 1 3 types of book

• Realistic
• (e.g., Owen and the Mountain)
• Fantastical
• (e.g., Theres Something in my Attic)
• Religious
• (e.g., Daniel in the Lions 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
Woolley and Cox, 2008
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Mean number claims the character is real
Woolley and Cox, 2008
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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.

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• Character questions
• Factuality 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 Owenor not?
• Event questions
• Factuality 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)
Woolley and Cox, 2008
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Mean number claims events did happen (Factuality
question)
Woolley and Cox, 2008
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Mean number claims events could happen
(Possibility question)
Woolley and Cox, 2008
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Study 3 Book types
Character Status Real Fantastical
Real Setting Status Fantastical
Girl in ocean Mermaid in ocean
Girl in enchanted sea Mermaid in enchanted sea
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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.

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Study 3 Mean claims novel entity is real by
context condition
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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.