Citation

Doyle AB, Connolly J. Early Child Res. Q. 1989; 4(3): 289-302.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0885-2006(89)90015-X

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Pretend play with peers has been hypothesized to augment the social and social-cognitive skills of preschool children. Two alternative mechanisms for these effects are proposed: first, out-of-play negotiations with play partners about roles, object properties, and actions; and second, the actual enactment of pretend episodes. The frequency of negotiation and enactment of pretend was observed in 62 boys and girls during free play in three day care centers. The relation of these pretend components to each other and to indices of social acceptance by peers and affective role-taking were evaluated. Negotiation and enactment were positively correlated, and both predicted peer social acceptance. Enactment predicted peer acceptance independent of negotiation, but the reverse was not true. These findings indicate that pretend enactment was an essential feature of the observed relation between social pretend play and social competence and that negotiation skills were invariably practiced during such enactment. Thus, the value of providing preschool environments that encourage children to engage spontaneously in the enactment of pretend scripts is supported.