Children’s Understanding of Fantasy and Magic Free Essay

Why do Children See Magic, the Opinion of Psychologists and other Points of View

Introduction

Children’s perception of magic is unique and sophisticated. Psychologists have devoted a lot of their time and effort towards investigating of the ways of formation, development and functioning of fantasy and imagination by small children. In fact young children in most Western cultures are able to remain free from limits of reality and rationality for a relatively long period of their development. In the 1930s it was found out that in the period of early childhood an important role is played by fairy tales for children, as they are able to really believe into them and their heroes. Jean Piaget (1927) was a supporter of a more empirical approach and he assumed that four-to-seven –year –old children attribute consciousness to non-animate things and this leads them to the belief that magical activities exist and they are able to impact the reality. Harris (1991) conducted a lot of experiments, involving children and motivating them to reveal their fantasy and imagination. Going different paths, these and numerous other researchers assumed that children could “infuse” the creature with the reality, as they are convinced that the process of thinking is already enough for creating of real physical objects. The world of fantasy is of great important to any child and applying their fantasy in plays, children manage to develop new skills, learn new things and finally fantasy becomes the key ground for child’s development of narrative and cognitive skills, forcing the mind to create new associations and ideas.

Key Terms

The term of magical thinking is usually used in anthropology and psychology in order to denote the fallacious attribution of causal relationships between actions and events with minor differences in meaning between the two. (Vyse, 1997, p. 12). “In psychology, the entities between which a causal relation has to be posited are more strictly delineated; here it denotes the belief that one’s thoughts by themselves can bring about effects in the world or that thinking something corresponds with doing it” (Vyse, 1997, p. 20). Fantasy is related to two aspects of the mind – the conscious and the unconscious. Fantasy this is actually a situation, which was imagined by an individual with the aim to express some desires or goals. Fantasies have beneficial elements; the frequency and vividness of the fantasies are different by different individuals.

How the skill is assessed

Historically, magical thinking was underappreciated and was considered to be just an immature stage in the development of child’s intelligence. Magical thinking was expected to be replaced fully with logical and socialized thinking (Piaget, 1972). Later studies, those of Harris et. al. (1991) and Subbotsky (1985) for example, proved that older children and even adults could be involved into magical thinking. These researchers underlined the fact of coexistence of magical thinking and logical thinking by humans. At the same time it was not still clear, whether magical thinking could impact logical thinking or any other cognitive abilities of a child. In other words, whether magical thinking could and should be considered a useful and important part or ability of humans, which could bring benefits to their cognitive functioning.  Answer to this question could explain, whether magical thinking should remain limited just to the sphere of entertainment or it could be also applied in various practical aspects of the lives of children during their learning and social education. Researchers have found the evidence that this question could be answered positively, but the impact of magical thinking is indirect. For example “an imaginary companion is a measure of fantasy orientation and not of magical thinking, yet, indirectly, the association between playing with an imaginary companion and improving one’s theory-of-mind abilities may suggest a similar association between engaging in magical thinking and improving understanding of other’s minds” (Vyse, 1997, p. 48).

All people consider the fact that their thoughts and words are able to impact their mental world quite natural. For example a person thinks that he wants to move his hand and he does it. But adult people are aware of the fact that they are not able to do the same things about non-animated physical objects, for example irrespective of the fact if a person wants to move a mountain, he won’t be able to do it. Such things could happen only in human imagination and fantasies. Subbotsky (1993) writes that “In ancient Greece people believed that the Oracle could see the future, and that sacrifices of animals to gods affected weather and crops. Everybody was a believer in magic, and the world was full of magical transformations. Today, things are different. Scientists have explained much of the physical world.” Situation with children is still different. The chains of children’s imagination are freed with the help of their fantasy, they are able to find new images and see the things from absolutely different perspectives with the help of fantasies. However, the most important function of fantasy is to reveal new concepts for children and let them use them in the future.

Harris (1991) conducted a study of 5- and 6-year-old children, who were asked about the status of the protagonist in three types of stories. In realistic stories all children claimed that the protagonist was a real person. In religious stories children assumed that the status of the protagonist varied, which could be explained by different religious basis of the families of these children. Finally, their upbringing was also important for their judgments about the protagonist in fantastic stories, as secular children state that the protagonist is fictional and religious children assume that the protagonist is real. On the basis of the results of this study it is possible to conclude that exposure to religious ideas for example could have impact upon children’s fantasy and perception of reality and fiction.

Bering and Parker (2006) conducted a research of two groups of children and their reactions to certain play. One group received an invisible agent Princess Alice, who could help them and the second group was not given this prime. One the basis of the results of this experiment the authors concluded that children “do not view ambient, unexpected events as being symbolic of communicative intentions until they are approximately 7 years of age. Only the oldest children in the study viewed such unexpected events as being about their behavior on the hiding game task.” (Bering & Parker, 2006, p. 259). The 5-year-old children were able to find the intentional agency behind unexpected events. Thus it is not clear at the moment, whether individuals are able to go beyond veridical causal explanations as the result of their biological evolution or rather a social evolution, in the process of which children acquire the basis of moral rules of their society.

How fantasy develops between infancy and middle school.

Jean Piaget made his great contribution into research of the processes of child development. He claimed that child’s mind is not just a younger version of an adult’s mind; rather it could be characterized as raw and animalistic. The mind develops along with the growth of a child and his interaction with his environment. Also the researcher stated that the best way to develop a child is to stir his or her curiosity with the help of exploration, experimentation and fantasy play. Piaget subdivided this process of development into four major stages on the basis of child’s age. The sensorimotor stage starts just after the births and is finished by two years. This stage is reflexive and is related only to the things, which could be learnt by an infant through touching or smelling or tasting. The second stage is called the preoperational stage, which lasts until the child is four. Children are egocentric during this stage and they are ready to perceive only their own point of view. They do not have any definite perception of reality at this age. By the end of the preoperational stage the intuitive phase starts. Children learn to use their language for verbalizing of their thoughts and ideas. “They can identify and empathize with people other than themselves regardless of whether they are fictional or not. This is because the child is still unable to clearly separate the fantasy from reality. Fantasy stories at this stage become less of a teaching tool, and more of a learning aid; children can now follow and immerse themselves in the narratives, they can experience new perspectives, using them to enrich their own inner world.” (Piaget, 1972, p. 113). When a child is seven, he enters operational stage. They start to rely more not upon their perceptions, but upon their reasoning. At around twelve years of age children transit into the formal operational stage. They start to think in more conceptual and hypothetical ways.

Developmental psychologist Erik Erikson worked out a different theory with the major focus upon the psychoanalytical development of a child. He assumed that there are certain psychosocial conflicts, which appear at the moments of child’s reaching certain ages and the ways, how the child managed to deal those conflicts, are decisive for the psychological maturity in the future. One of the widespread conflicts, identified by Erikson, was trust versus mistrust conflict. This conflict takes place in the period of infancy and is explained by the presence of the attachments between babies and their close people and the confidence, which is needed for children to manage the wide range of other situations and circumstances. One more conflict, faced by children, is between autonomy and doubt. Children are to take their decisions to hold on and to let go. This conflict is usual for the period of one and three. Children obtain some portion of freedom at this period, but they are still under strict control of adults. Play is utterly important for this period and for overcoming of this conflict with the help of creation of safe imagined environment. The third conflict is the conflict between initiative and guilt. It takes place between the age of three and six. Children become more capable and adults expect higher degree of responsibility from them. Children tend to develop the sense of guilt in case they are in conflict with another person. Guilt is important for further formation of the basis of the children’s moral values. Fantasies could help children find the ways out of the conflicts through series of fantastical scenarios for example. The last conflict is faced in the age between six and thirteen and this is the conflict of industry against inferiority. This is the stage of children’s development, when they learn to perceive their own competency and form their self esteem.

Conclusion

Overall, a lot of researchers and psychologists investigated the perception of magic by children, due to the fact that magic and fantasy play vitally important role in formation of children’s character, personalities and moral values. Since the moment, when it was found out that children’s mind should not be considered a smaller copy of the mind of adults, researchers made a great step forward in studies of children’s psychology and mind functioning.

References:

Bering, Jesse M., Parker, Becky D.. (2006) Developmental Psychology        . Children’s Attributions of Intentions to an Invisible Agent. American Psychological Association.  Vol. 42

Harris, P.L., Brown, E., Mariott, C., Whittal, S. & Harmer, S. (1991). Monsters,ghosts and witches: Testing the limits of the fantasy–reality distinction in young children. British

Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9,105–123.

Piaget, J. (1972). The psychology of the child. New York: Basic Books

Subbotsky, E.V. (1993). Foundations of the mind: Children’s understanding of reality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Vyse, Stuart (1997). Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition. Oxford University Press

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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