Pretending and Imagination in Animals and Children

by Robert W. Mitchell (Editor)

Overview

This book provides an overview of recent research presenting conflicting interpretations of children's understanding of the psychology of pretense and describes sociocultural factors which influence children's pretenses. Studies of nonhuman primates provide examples of their pretenses and other simulative activities, explore their representational and imaginative capacities and compare their skills with children. Although the psychological requirements for pretending are controversial, evidence presented in this volume suggests that great apes and even monkeys may share capacities for imagination with children and that children's early pretenses may be less psychological than they appear.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521283328
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/16/2011
Pages:	390
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

ROBERT W. MITCHELL is Professor of Psychology at the Eastern Kentucky University. He is currently interested in exploring the significance of kinesthetic-visual matching in human and animal behavior, experience and self-understanding, and is writing a history of scientific attitudes toward using anthropomorphism to understand animals. Professor Mitchell's previous books include Self-Awareness in Animals and Humans (1994, ISBN 0521441080), edited with S. T. Parker and M. L. Boccia, and The Mentalities of Gorillas and Orangutans (1999, ISBN  0521580277), edited with S. T. Parker and H. L. Miles.

Table of Contents

Foreword Sue Taylor Parker; Preface and acknowledgements; Part I. Historical, Developmental and Comparative Overviews: 1. Imaginative animals, pretending children Robert W. Mitchell; 2. A history of pretense in animals and children Robert W. Mitchell; 3. Pretending as representation: a developmental and comparative view Lorraine McCune and Joanne Agayoff; Part II. Pretense and Imagination in Children: 4. Language in pretense in the second year: what it can tell us about 'pretending' in pretense and the 'know-how' about the mind Edy Veneziano; 5. A longitudinal and cross-sectional study of the emergence of the symbolic function in children between 15 and 19 months of age: pretend play, object permanence understanding and self-recognition Pierre-Marie Baudonnière, Sylvie Margules, Soumeya Belkhenchir, Gwénnaelle Carn, Florence Pèpe and Véronique Warkentin; 6. Caregiver-child social pretend play: what transpires? Robert D. Kavanaugh; 7. Just through the looking-glass: children's understanding of pretense Angeline Lillard; 8. Young children's understanding of pretense and other fictional mental states Jacqueline D. Woolley; 9. Pretend play, metarepresentation and theory of mind Peter K. Smith; 10. Replica toys, stories and a functional theory of mind Greta G. Fein, Lynn D. Darling and Lois A. Groth; 11. Young children's animal-role pretend play Olin Eugene Myers Jr.; 12. Imaginary companions and elaborate fantasy in childhood: discontinuity with nonhuman animals Marjorie Taylor and Stephanie M. Carlson; Part III. Pretense and Imagination in Primates: 13. Pretending in monkeys Anne Zeller; 14. Pretending primates: play and simulation in the evolution of primate societies Peter C. Reynolds; 15. Representational capacities for pretense with scale models and photographs in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Sarah T. Boysen and Valerie A. Kuhlmeier; 16. Pretending in free-ranging rehabilitant orangutans Anne E. Russon; 17. Seeing with the mind's eye: eye-covering play in orangutans and Japanese macaques Anne E. Russon, Paul L. Vasey and Carole Gauthier; 18. Possible precursors of pretend play in nonpretend actions of captive gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) Juan Carlos Gómez and Beatriz Martín-Andrade; 19. Pretending culture: social and cognitive features of pretense in apes and humans Warren P. Roberts and Mark A. Krause; 20. Empathy in a bonobo Ellen J. Ingmanson; 21. Pretend play in a signalling gorilla Marilyn L. Matevia, Francine G. P. Patterson and William A. Hillix; Part IV. Prospects: 22. Exploring pretense in animals and children Robert W. Mitchell; References; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Written in a careful, thought-provoking manner, these papers are well worth the effort required to understand most of them." Choice

"This is a stimulating book." Ethology

From the Publisher

Anthropologists and psychologists from Europe and North America share their findings from observing activities similar to pretense by children and other lesser primates. They consider such topics as developmental and comparative perspectives on pretending as representation, caregiver-child social pretend play, and play and simulation in the evolution of primate societies. Evidence from animals may eventually help establish a psychologically and evolutionarily plausible account of fictive acts of perceiving. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)