Young children protest and correct pretense that contradicts their general knowledge

- We examined how 3- and 4-year-olds respond to pretense that contradicts their knowledge.
- Children spontaneously protested pretense where animals made the wrong sounds.
- Children rarely protested when animals made typical sounds or spoke English.
- The findings suggest children attach normative force to the content of pretend play.

We report evidence that children believe that pretend objects and entities should normally be represented as having their factual properties, and that pretense ought not contradict their general knowledge. Across two experiments, 3- and 4-year-olds (N = 160) spontaneously provided corrections and protested pretense scenarios in which animals produced sounds typical of a different species (for example, a duck toy that was made to say, “oink”). Children rarely protested pretense in which animals made species-typical sounds (Experiment 1) or spoke in English (Experiment 2A). Children even provided protests and corrections when the experimenter signaled that the pretense might include unrealistic elements (Experiment 2B). These findings build on accounts claiming that children use their general knowledge to generate and interpret pretense, and show that they attach normative force to the content of pretend play. More generally, the findings advance knowledge of how children respond to information that is counter-intuitive and inconsistent with their expectations.