What Do Invisible Friends Know? Imaginary Companions, God, and Theory of Mind

REFERENCES

• Avis , J. and Harris , P. L. 1991 . Belief-desire reasoning among Baka children: Evidence for a universal conception of mind . Child Development , 62 : 460 – 467 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Baron-Cohen , S. 1995 . Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Cambridge , MA : MIT Press. .
   Google Scholar
• Barrett , J. L. , Moore Newman , R. and Richert , R. A. 2003 . ‘When seeing is not believing: Children's understanding of humans' and non-humans’ use of background knowledge in interpreting visual displays . Journal of Cognition and Culture , 3.1 : 91 – 108 .
   Google Scholar
• Barrett , J. L. and Richert , R. A. 2003 . Anthropomorphism or preparedness? Exploring children's God concepts . Review of Religious Research , 44 : 300 – 312 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Barrett , J. L. , Richert , R. A. and Driesenga , A. 2001 . God's beliefs verses mother's: The development of nonhuman agent concepts . Child Development , 72 : 50 – 65 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Chandler , M. J. and Helm , D. 1984 . Developmental changes in the contribution of shared experience to social role-taking competence . International Journal of Behavioral Development , 7 : 145 – 156 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Flavell , J. H. , Flavell , E. R. and Green , F. L. 1983 . Development of the appearance-reality distinction . Cognitive Psychology , 15 : 95 – 120 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gardner , H. and Winner , E. 1982 . “ First intimations of artistry. ” . In U-shaped behavioral growth Edited by: Strauss , S. 147 – 168 . New York , NY : Academic Press. .
   Google Scholar
• Giménez-Dasí , M. , Guerrero , S. and Harris , P. L. 2005 . Intimations of immortality and omniscience in early childhood . European Journal of Developmental Psychology , 2 : 285 – 297 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gopnik , A. and Astington , J. W. 1988 . Children's understanding of representational change, and its relation to the understanding of false belief and the appearance-reality distinction . Child Development , 59 : 26 – 37 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Jaynes , J. 1977 . The origins of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind. New York , NY : Houghton Mifflin. .
   Google Scholar
• Jaynes , J. 2006 . “ Verbal hallucinations and pre-conscious mentality. ” . In Reflections on the dawn of consciousness: Julian Jaynes's bicameral mind theory revisited Edited by: Kuijsten , M. 75 – 94 . Hendersen , NV : Julian Jaynes Society. . (Original work published 1989)
   Google Scholar
• Karmiloff-Smith , A. 1992 . Beyond modularity: A developmental perspective on cognitive science. Cambridge , MA : MIT Press. .
   Google Scholar
• Keleman , D. 2004 . Are children “intuitive theists”? Reasoning about purpose and design in nature . Psychological Science , 15 : 295 – 301 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Knight , N. 2008 . Yukatek Maya children's attributions of belief to natural and non-natural entities . Journal of Cognition and Culture , 8 : 235 – 243 .
   Google Scholar
• Knight , N. , Sousa , P. , Barrett , J. L. and Atran , S. 2004 . Children's attributions of beliefs to humans and God: Cross-cultural evidence . Cognitive Science , 2 : 117 – 126 .
   Google Scholar
• Lane , J. , Wellman , H. W. and Evans , E. M. 2010 . Children's understanding of ordinary and extraordinary minds . Child Development , 81 : 1475 – 1489 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Makris , N. and Pnevmatikos , D. 2007 . Children's understanding of human and super-natural mind . Cognitive Development , 22 : 365 – 375 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Mills , A. 2003 . Are children with imaginary playmates and children said to remember previous lives cross-culturally comparable categories? . Transcultural Psychiatry , 40 : 62 – 90 .
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Moses , L. J. and Chandler , M. J. 1992 . Review: Traveler's Guide to Children's Theories of Mind . Psychological Inquiry , 3 : 286 – 301 .
   Google Scholar
• Piaget , J. and Inhelder , B. 1967 . The child's conception of space. New York , NY : Norton. .
   Google Scholar
• Richert , R. A. and Barrett , J. L. 2005 . Do you see what I see? Young children's assumptions about God's perceptual abilities . The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion , 15 : 283 – 295 .
   Google Scholar
• Singer , D. G. and Singer , J. L. 1990 . The house of make-believe: Children's play and developing imagination. Cambridge , MA : Harvard University Press. .
   Google Scholar
• Singer , J. L. and Singer , D. G. 1981 . Television, imagination, and aggression: A study of preschoolers. Hillsdale , NJ : Erlbaum. .
   Google Scholar
• Taylor , M. 1999 . Imaginary companions and the children who create them. Oxford , , UK : Oxford University Press. .
   Google Scholar
• Taylor , M. and Carlson , S. M. 1997 . The relation between individual differences in fantasy and theory of mind . Child Development , 68 : 436 – 455 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Taylor , M. and Carlson , S. M. 2000 . “ The influence of religious beliefs on parental attitudes about children's fantasy behavior. ” . In Imagining the impossible: Magical, scientific, and religious thinking in children Edited by: Rosengren , K. S. , Johnson , C. and Harris , P. L. 247 – 268 . Cambridge , , UK : Cambridge University Press. .
   Google Scholar
• Wellman , H. M. , Cross , D. and Watson , J. 2001 . Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: The truth about false belief . Child Development , 62 : 655 – 684 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wigger , J. B. 2011 . See-through knowing: Learning from children and their invisible friends . Journal of Childhood and Religion , 2 : 1 – 34 .
   Google Scholar
• Wimmer , H. , Hogrefe , J. and Perner , J. 1988 . Children's understanding of informational access as a source of knowledge . Children Development , 59 : 386 – 396 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wimmer , H. and Perner , J. 1983 . Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception . Cognition , 13 : 103 – 128 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Yaniv , I. and Shatz , M. 1988 . “ Children's understanding of perceptibility. ” . In Developing theories of mind Edited by: Astington , J. , Harris , P. and Olson , D. 93 – 108 . New York , NY : Cambridge University Press. .
   Google Scholar
• Zelazo , D. 2004 . U shaped changes in behavior and their implications for cognitive development . Special edition of Cognition and Development , 5 : 1 – 154 .
   Google Scholar