From Actors to Agents to Persons: The Development of Character Representation in Young Children's Narratives
-
Ageliki Nicolopoulou [1] ; Elizabeth S. Richner [1]
-
[1] Lehigh University
Lehigh University
City of Bethlehem, Estados Unidos
-
- Localización: Child development, ISSN 0009-3920, Vol. 78, Nº. 2, 2007, págs. 412-429
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
-
Resumen
This study addressed a puzzling discrepancy in existing research about when children achieve and manifest a mentalistic conception of the person. Narrative research suggests that children do not represent characters as mental agents until middle childhood, whereas social cognition research places this understanding at around 4 years. Using a theoretically informed typology, 617 stories were analyzed composed by 30 children participating in a storytelling and story-acting practice integrated into their preschool curriculum. Results indicated that children's representation of characters shifted from almost exclusively physical and external portrayals of “actors” at 3 to increasing inclusion of “agents” with rudimentary mental states at 4 and of “persons” with mental representational capacities by 5. The developmental trajectories of boys and girls differed somewhat.
