Preschool Fantasy-Reality Discrimination: Influences of Trait and Primed Fearfulness.

Distinguishing between fantasy and reality is an important developmental milestone, achieved in the preschool years, that has been linked to children's cognitive capabilities and emotional knowledge. The authors examined the influence of both trait and prime fearfulness on preschoolers' ability to differentiate between fantastic and real situations. Forty 3-5-year-old preschoolers were administered a fearfulness assessment, a standard theory-of-mind task, and a fantasy-reality discrimination task (with or without a fear prime).