The development of children’s concepts of
invisibility
Jacqueline D. WoolleyThe University of Texas
Melissa A. McInnisThe University of Alabama
Fantasy-Reality distinction◦ Present by age 3
(Woolley, 1997)◦ Develops significantly between ages 3 and 7
(Sharon & Woolley, 2004; Woolley & VanReet, 2006) Appearance-Reality distinction
◦ Present by age 3 (Woolley & Wellman, 1990)
◦ Develops significantly between ages 3 and 7 (Flavell, Green, & Flavell, 1996; Flavell, Flavell, &
Green, 1997; Moll & Tomasello, 2012)
Invisibility
Mental states◦ People have mental states even though one
cannot see them (Wellman & Estes, 1989) Germs
◦ Germs can cause disease, even though they can’t be seen (Kalish, 1996)
Invisible particles◦ Sugar dissolved in water is still there even though
one cannot see it (Au, Sidle, & Rollins, 1993; Rosen & Rozin, 1993)
Previous findingsInvisible real entities
By age 4 children think differently about invisible real entities like germs and fantastical entities (some of which are invisible; Harris, et al., 2006)
Children younger than 5 do not differentiate invisible agents from absent humans (Kiessling, Russell, Whitehouse, & Perner, 2013)
By age 5 children understand that events can be caused by invisible beings (Bering & Parker, 2006)
Previous findingsInvisible not-real entities
Children may experience difficulty reasoning about invisibility◦ They may expect reality and visibility to co-occur
There may be development in children’s understanding of difference senses of invisibility◦ Some things are un-seeable because they are too
small, whereas other things are invisible by definition or by nature
Children’s understanding of invisibility may be related to their ability to make the appearance-reality distinction
Hypotheses
Real Not Real
Visible BikeOrange juice Teacher
Sponge BobMermaidMagic wand
Invisible GermsAirSong
GhostImaginary FriendMagic spell
Items
Visibility question: “Can you see X with your eyes or can you not see it?”
Reality question: “What do you think, is X real or pretend?”
If “can’t see”:◦ Why can’t you see X?◦ Can scientists (or other experts) see X?◦ If we had a microscope/magnifying glass, could
we see X?◦ If we had a lot of light, could we see X?
Questions
Visibility Responses
3-year-olds 5-year-olds 7-year-olds0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Visibility Question: Visible Entities
RealNot-Real
0 =
Incorr
ect,
1 =
Corr
ect
3-year-olds 5-year-olds 7-year-olds0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Visibility Question: Invisible Entities
RealNot-Real
0 =
Incorr
ect,
1 =
Corr
ect
3-year-olds 5-year-olds 7-year-olds0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Reality Status Question: Real Entities
VisibleInvisible
Incorr
ect
= 0
, C
orr
ect
= 1
Reality Status Judgments
3-year-olds 5-year-olds 7-year-olds0
0.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9
1
Reality Status Question: Not-Real Entities
VisibleInvisible
0 =
Incorr
ect,
1 =
Corr
ect
3-year-olds 5-year-olds 7-year-olds0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Visibility Reality Scores: Real Entities
VisibleInvisible
0 =
Incorr
ect,
1 =
Corr
ect
Visibility-Reality Performance
3-year-olds 5-year-olds 7-year-olds0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
Visibility-Reality Scores: Not-Real Entities
VisibleInvisible
0 =
Incorr
ect,
1 =
Corr
ect
Invisibility◦ Explicit use of the word “invisible”
Physical◦ Reference to a physical property or location
Human production/sense◦ Reference to human ability or lack thereof
Reality status◦ Appealed to the real or pretend nature of the
entity
Children’s explanations for why they couldn’t see invisible entities
Children’s explanations
Germs: Almost all children (86-100%). Air: 40% of 3-year-olds, 60% of 5-year-olds,
and 24% of 7-year-olds. Songs: 75% of 3-year-olds, 58% of 5-year-
olds, and no 7-year-olds. Not-real entities: 88% of 3-year-olds, 62% of
5-year-olds, and 18% of 7-year-olds.
Expert/technology questions:Affirmative responses to whether there was
some way to see invisible entities
Microscope question
3-year-olds 5-year-olds 7-year-olds0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Invisible Real
Invisible Not-Real
Age
0 =
"N
o"
1 =
"Y
es"
Children’s concepts of visibility and reality status are intertwined.
Children’s ability to concurrently maintain representations of both visibility and reality status develops between 3 and 7 and is related to their ability to make the AR distinction.
By age 5, children are beginning to think about how invisible real and not-real entities differ.
By age 7, children recognize two different types of invisibility.
Conclusions
to Jonathan Lane for organizing this symposium
to NICHD (grant HD-30300 to Jacqueline D. Woolley).
to the children who participated at the Children’s Research Lab at U.T.
to Sweta Daru, Brittany Kinard, and Annette Leija for their help with data collection.
to Chelsea Cornelius and Gabe Lopez-Mobilia for editorial and conceptual feedback.
Thank you…
Visible-real (.92) > AR (.77)
AR = invisible-real (.70)
AR > visible-not real (.38)
AR > invisible-not real (.59)
Relation between AR distinction and visibility-reality distinction