Maternal Behavior Modifications during Pretense and Their Long-Term Effects on Toddlers’ Understanding of Pretense

Figures & data

TABLE 1 Maternal and Toddler Behaviors in the Real and Pretense Conditions of Experiment 1 and the Data of Lillard and Witherington (2004)

	Experiment 1 of the Present Study								Lillard and Witherington (2004)
	Real Condition			Pretense Condition			t	d	Real Condition		Pretense Condition		t
	M	SD	Range	M	SD	Range			M	SD	M	SD
Mother
Frequency of smiling	6.06	3.86	1–15	10.42	5.09	0–20	t(30) = 5.55***	0.97	5.00	2.72	7.72	3.16	t(35) = 4.98**
Total duration of smiles (s)	14.06	11.84	0.75–47.50	36.30	26.07	0.00–95.73	t(30) = 5.51***	1.10	18.86	11.95	34.82	16.27	t(35) = 5.63**
Smiles referring to the mother's own action (%)	25.77	0.28	0–100	63.36	0.35	0–100	t(30) = 6.54***	1.19	19	0.27	41	0.24	t(33) = 4.94**
Smiles referring to the child's actions (%)	56.52	0.33	0–100	24.31	0.30	0.00–93.55	t(30) = 5.20***	1.02	76	0.27	52	0.25	no description
Total duration of gazing at child (s)	83.13	12.97	54.5–108	90.61	13.74	54.50–117.50	t(30) = 2.99**	0.56	60.14	14.34	74.92	11.72	t(18) = 5.70**
Total duration of gazing at task object (s)	35.33	13.26	11.5–63.5	27.19	13.11	2.50–62.25	t(30) = 3.31**	0.62	54.14	14.21	36.82	11.22	t(18) = 6.59**
Frequency of normal utterances	85.06	45.93	21–203	89.55	43.18	16–176	t(30) = 0.91	0.10	114.00	40.00	138.00	48.00	t(35) = 3.43**
Frequency of sound effects	3.97	5.59	0–20	43.18	39.95	3–143	t(30) = 6.01***	1.38	0.03	0.17	11.11	5.36	t(35) = 12.52**
Frequency of snack-related acts	11.97	5.66	3–26	20.39	9.11	4–42	t(30) = 6.29***	1.12	12.94	2.95	16.00	4.21	t(35) = 5.10**
Toddler
Frequency of smiling	2.00	2.65	0–11	3.71	3.70	0–13	t(30) = 2.51*	0.53	no description
Frequency of pretense acts	0.19	0.60	0–3	4.58	4.48	0–17	t(30) = 5.58***	1.37	no description
Apparent understanding score				8.29	6.72	0–22					7.10	3.74

*p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.

Note. To present the data of Lillard and Witherington (2004) in Table 1, all means, standard deviations, and t values were taken from their text. These data were based on Experiment 1 in Lillard and Witherington's study, except for the total duration of gazing at child or task object (Experiment 2) and toddlers’ apparent understanding scores (Experiment 3). Some of Lillard and Witherington's data were not presented in their study and are represented here as “no description.”

TABLE 2 Spearman's Rank Correlations Between Maternal and Toddler Behaviors in the Pretense and Real Conditions (Experiment 1)

		Toddler
		Real Condition	Pretense Condition
		Sum of Smiles and Pretense Acts	Apparent Understanding Score
Mother	Frequency of smiling	.27	.40*
	Total duration of smiles (s)	.43*	.49**
	Total duration of gazing at the child (s)	.24	.41*
	Total duration of gazing at task object(s)	–.20	–.36*
	Frequency of normal utterances	.28	.46**
	Frequency of sound effects	.17	.62**
	Frequency of snack-related acts	–.08	–.14

*p < .05. ** p < .01.

TABLE 3 Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficients Between Time 1 Variables and Toddlers’ Understanding at Time 2

				Time 2 (24 Months Old) Teddy Task
Time 1 (18 months old)	Real condition	Mother	Frequency of smiling	.38
			Total duration of smiles (s)	.27
			Total duration of gazing at the child (s)	.24
			Frequency of sound effects	.34
			Frequency of snack-related acts	–.17
		Toddler	Sum of smile and pretense acts	–.01
	Pretense condition	Mother	Frequency of smiling	.62**
			Total duration of smiles (s)	.51*
			Total duration of gazing at the child (s)	.33
			Frequency of sound effects	.61**
			Frequency of snack-related acts	–.11
		Toddler	Apparent understanding score	.61**

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Table

Episode	Action	Substance	Target	Outcome	Cleaning Tool
A	Pouring	Tea	Pig (right)	Wet/dry	Small towel
B	Pouring	Cereal	Floor (right)	Dirty/clean	Brush
C	Squirting	Toothpaste	Pig (left)	Wet/dry	Tissue
D	Pouring	Milk	Floor (left)	Dirty/clean	Sponge

Lillard, A. S. & Witherington, D. C. (2004). Mothers’ behavior modifications during pretense and their possible signal value for toddlers. Developmental Psychology, 40, 95–113. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.1.95

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