Can Children Understand the Difference Between Fantasy and Reality?

Medically reviewed by Ann-Louise T. Lockhart, PsyD, ABPP

Young children are often immersed in fantasy, and therefore, parents, teachers, and even scholars often think of them as being unable to distinguish reality from unreality. However, research suggests that children are more thoughtful about the differences between fantasy and reality than they may appear to adults.

In fact, children use many of the same cues as adults to decide whether something is real or not. So while young children are unable to distinguish fantasy from reality as successfully as adults, they become more capable of doing so as they advance developmentally and acquire more knowledge about the world.

How Children's Development Impacts Their Understanding of Fantasy and Reality

Around the age of 2, children begin to play pretend. Their flip-flop becomes a telephone, the broom becomes a horse, and they can do all of their cooking on top of a cardboard box. They also believe in fantasy beings like the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, and it is not uncommon to have imaginary friends. Indeed, young children have difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality.

However, between the ages of 3 and 7, children gradually become more sophisticated in their ability to understand the difference. For example, young preschoolers tend to believe everything they see on TV is real. Yet, by 5 or 6 they understand that if something violates physical reality, such as the special effects or animation in their favorite TV programs, it's not real.

This trajectory can be seen in one study on children's perceptions of fictional TV characters. The investigation found that 4-year-old participants believed Big Bird from Sesame Street was real. However, 5- to 6-year-old participants knew that Big Bird was a person wearing a costume, as they had come to understand that the character violates physical reality.

Related: Symbolic Thinking and Pretend Play

Between the ages of 7 and 11, their ability to think logically increases, and they become increasingly focused on realism. Although sci-fi and fantasy are still valued as entertainment, it is no longer confused with reality.

In fact, at this stage, children become critical of TV shows that seem overly childish. It's around this same time that children become less interested in playing pretend. They seek to spend time with their peers and understand the real world through their games, music, and entertainment

Related: Developing More Logical Thought Processes

What Cues Do Children Use to Distinguish Between Fantasy and Reality?

Research has shown that children and adults tend to use similar methods and rely on similar cues to distinguish between fantasy and reality. These methods and cues are discussed below.

Evaluating Context

When adults are presented with new information, we judge the truth of that information based on the context in which we find it.

A study involving 3- to 6-year-olds showed that children also used context clues when they were told about animals they weren't familiar with. When they heard that the new animals were associated with dragons or ghosts—a fantastical context—they were less likely to believe the animals really existed than if they were told they were associated with doctors or scientists—a scientific context. These results were seen with participants as young as 4 years old.

Existing Knowledge

Another thing adults do when we encounter new information is compare it to the knowledge we already possess. If what we know lends support to the new information, we'll decide it's plausible.

Takeaway

However, if the information doesn't make sense based on what we already know about the world, we'll reject it as false.

Research involving children between the ages of 5 and 8 has shown that children also use their existing knowledge to judge the reliability of new information. The only difference is that children have acquired less knowledge about the world than adults have.

Takeaway

As children mature and acquire more knowledge about the laws of nature and physics, they become more capable of accurately distinguishing fantasy from reality.

Some fantasies may take longer to shake than others. For instance, children may realize that Wile E. Coyote is always OK after falling off of a cliff or blowing himself up, but hang on to the magic of Santa Claus quite a bit longer. Indeed, they have been collecting evidence that Santa Claus is real for quite some time.

Evaluating the Source

Although this has become more challenging today when there are so many sources of information that different people judge different sources as more or less reliable, we should generally be able to agree that if we read about the discovery of aliens on a blog that we've never heard of, we should be skeptical of the information. In contrast, if we read about the news on the website for NASA, we should be more inclined to believe it.

Adults have a tendency to bombard young children with stories about magical events and fantastical beings, such as giant beanstalks, talking wolves, houses made of candy, and overweight men who slide down chimneys and deliver gifts on Christmas.

Young children will slowly develop an understanding of who they can trust for information, similar to adults.

Takeaway

Information coming from a trusted source (such as parents) makes children more willing to believe in fantasy.

Evaluating Expertise

Of course, much of the information both adults and children are exposed to is the result of encounters with other people. However, we don't believe just anyone. Adults are far more likely to believe that a specific kind of food isn't good for us if we hear it from a doctor acquaintance on LinkedIn than we are if we hear it from our conspiracy theorist Facebook friend.

When child study participants were asked to decide if a reported discovery of a new kind of fish was real or not, they were more likely to believe the fish existed if a zookeeper or marine biologist, someone who would be considered an expert, claimed it than if their older sibling, a non-expert, did so.

How Can Adults Help Children Learn to Distinguish Fantasy from Reality?

Children know adults are more knowledgeable than they are, and therefore they are more likely to believe the information that adults share with them than information that comes from other children. Consequently, adults can play a role in helping children learn to understand the difference between fantasy and reality.

Takeaway

In particular, parents and guardians can provide guidance during storytelling or while reading, watching TV or movies, or interacting with online content simply by being there to answer children's questions and helping to minimize misunderstandings about what is real and what isn't. Media literacy programs, when they are available, can help children learn to distinguish fantasy from reality as well.

That said, if your child believes in Santa Claus or Big Bird, psychology scholar Jacqueline Woolley says there's no reason to discourage them. Children don't come to distrust adults when they learn that these fantasy figures aren't real.

Moreover, engaging with these figures gives children the chance to develop their abilities to distinguish fantasy from reality. Besides, one way or another, by the time children reach early adolescence, they have acquired enough knowledge and matured enough that their aptitude for discerning fantasy from reality is similar to that of an adult.

Summary

As a child's brain develops and they acquire new life experiences, they learn to discern fantasy from reality the same way adults do. Although they love to play pretend, young children begin to understand the principles of physical reality as early as age 4 or 5, understanding that horses don't talk and pigs can't fly.

They transition slowly from fantasy to reality by the age of 7 or 8 and can use logic to evaluate new information by comparing it with their current knowledge, evaluating contextual cues, and determining who is and is not a trustworthy source.

One of the final blows to a child's magical thinking is when they learn that their parents were pretending to be Santa every year. Nevertheless, plenty of adults still make wishes when they blow out their birthday candles, and love sci-fi entertainment that provides an escape from reality.

Read Next: Social and Emotional Development in Early Childhood

Read the original article on Verywell Mind.