Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
Psychol Bull. 2013 Jan;139(1):1-34. doi: 10.1037/a0029321. Epub 2012 Aug 20.
Pretend play has been claimed to be crucial to children's healthy development. Here we examine evidence for this position versus 2 alternatives: Pretend play is 1 of many routes to positive developments (equifinality), and pretend play is an epiphenomenon of other factors that drive development. Evidence from several domains is considered. For language, narrative, and emotion regulation, the research conducted to date is consistent with all 3 positions but insufficient to draw conclusions. For executive function and social skills, existing research leans against the crucial causal position but is insufficient to differentiate the other 2. For reasoning, equifinality is definitely supported, ruling out a crucially causal position but still leaving open the possibility that pretend play is epiphenomenal. For problem solving, there is no compelling evidence that pretend play helps or is even a correlate. For creativity, intelligence, conservation, and theory of mind, inconsistent correlational results from sound studies and nonreplication with masked experimenters are problematic for a causal position, and some good studies favor an epiphenomenon position in which child, adult, and environment characteristics that go along with play are the true causal agents. We end by considering epiphenomenalism more deeply and discussing implications for preschool settings and further research in this domain. Our take-away message is that existing evidence does not support strong causal claims about the unique importance of pretend play for development and that much more and better research is essential for clarifying its possible role.
假装游戏被认为对儿童的健康发展至关重要。在这里，我们考察了这种观点的证据，以及另外两种替代观点的证据：假装游戏是积极发展的众多途径之一（等效性），而假装游戏是推动发展的其他因素的附带现象。考虑了来自多个领域的证据。对于语言、叙事和情绪调节，迄今为止进行的研究与所有 3 种观点都一致，但不足以得出结论。对于执行功能和社交技能，现有研究倾向于否定关键的因果关系，但不足以区分其他 2 种观点。对于推理，等效性是绝对支持的，排除了关键的因果关系，但仍有可能假装游戏是附带现象。对于解决问题，没有令人信服的证据表明假装游戏有帮助，甚至没有相关性。对于创造力、智力、守恒和心理理论，来自可靠研究的不一致相关结果和与蒙面实验者的非复制对于因果关系是有问题的，一些良好的研究支持附带现象的立场，即与游戏相伴的儿童、成人和环境特征是真正的因果因素。最后，我们更深入地考虑了附带现象主义，并讨论了其对学前环境和该领域进一步研究的影响。我们的结论是，现有证据并不支持关于假装游戏对发展的独特重要性的强有力的因果主张，需要更多更好的研究来澄清其可能的作用。
