Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University, Japan.
Br J Dev Psychol. 2011 Sep;29(Pt 3):489-503. doi: 10.1348/026151010X519964. Epub 2011 Mar 10.
Reasoning about another's pretend and real crying is related to ma'ny important social cognitive abilities (e.g., emotional understanding, appearance-reality, and theory of mind). This study investigated whether children aged 6 years and younger could distinguish between instances of pretend crying and real crying as presented in stories. Sixty-five Japanese children aged 4-6 years were given stories within two contexts (Play and Non-play). In the Play context, the protagonist of the story was pretending to cry or really crying during a pretend play activity. In the Non-play context, the protagonist was also pretending to cry or really crying after his/her toy had been hidden by another child. The children answered questions about these crying events. The results showed that the 4- and 5-year-olds showed significantly better understanding of pretend crying in the Play context compared to the Non-play context. In the Non-play context, they were significantly less likely to understand the cause of pretend crying compared to the 6-year-olds. The results suggest that the context of pretend play facilitates the children's understanding of pretend crying.
推理他人的假装哭泣和真实哭泣与许多重要的社会认知能力有关（例如，情绪理解、表象与现实、心理理论）。本研究旨在调查 6 岁以下儿童是否能够区分故事中呈现的假装哭泣和真实哭泣的例子。65 名 4-6 岁的日本儿童在两种情境（游戏和非游戏）下接受了故事。在游戏情境中，故事的主角在假装游戏活动中假装哭泣或真的哭泣。在非游戏情境中，主角的玩具被另一个孩子藏起来后，他/她也在假装哭泣或真的哭泣。孩子们回答了这些哭泣事件的问题。结果表明，4 岁和 5 岁的儿童在游戏情境中对假装哭泣的理解明显优于非游戏情境。在非游戏情境中，与 6 岁儿童相比，他们不太可能理解假装哭泣的原因。结果表明，假装游戏的情境有助于儿童理解假装哭泣。
