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Children's Verbal Fantasy Play withParents and PeersJane C. Perlmutter a & Anthony D. Pellegrini ba Department of Early Childhood Education , University ofGeorgia , USAb Institute for Behavioral Research , University of Georgia ,USAPublished online: 29 Sep 2006.

To cite this article: Jane C. Perlmutter & Anthony D. Pellegrini (1987) Children's Verbal FantasyPlay with Parents and Peers, Educational Psychology: An International Journal of ExperimentalEducational Psychology, 7:4, 269-281, DOI: 10.1080/0144341870070402

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Educational Psychology, Vol. 7, No. 4, 1987 269

Children's Verbal Fantasy Play withParents and Peers

JANE C. PERLMUTTER, Department of Early Childhood Education,University of Georgia, USAANTHONY D. PELLEGRINI, Institute for Behavioral Research,University of Georgia, USA

ABSTRACT The three objectives of this study were: to compare children's fantasy playin three social contexts (with mothers, with fathers and with peers); to examine therelations of children's fantasy play to their receptive vocabularies and to examine therelations of children's fantasy play to their perspective-taking skills. The subjects in thestudy were 20 preschool children (32-68 months of age), their parents and 20 peersmatched for age, Each child played twice in each social context in a laboratoryplayroom. Transcripts of sessions were coded for categories of fantasy transformations.To compare children's fantasy with parents and peers, a gender by age by contextdesign was employed. Analyses revealed an age X context interaction. Younger pre-school children produced more fantasy transformations with their parents than withtheir peers, while older pre-schoolers used more fantasy with their peers than with theirparents. Girls used more fantasy than did boys. Animation with parents, situationaltransformation with peers and with parents predicted children's receptive vocabularies.Object property with peers, situational transformations with peers, and imaginary objectproperty with peers predicted children's perspective-taking abilities. Results are dis-cussed in terms of the differential effects of the peer and adult contexts on children'ssocial-cognitive development.

In play, children influence and are influenced by both their parents and their peers.Both Piaget (1962) and Vygotsky (1976) maintained that pretend, or fantasy play, isimportant because it involves movement from the here and now to symbolic under-standing. This representational competence is an important precursor to later social-cognitive development. McLoyd (1980) has developed a hierarchical system of

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270 J. C. Perlmutter & A. D. Pellegrini

classifying fantasy utterances according to their degree of decontextualization, whichrelates well to both Piaget's and Vygotsky's notions of play as movement from thepresent to the more abstract. However, the two theorists assigned differing levels ofimportance to the roles of adults and peers in preschool children's play. Piaget pointedto the importance of children's active involvement with their physical environment andpeers, while Vygotsky looked primarily to the adults in children's social environmentas motivating factors in children's development. The intent of this research was tocompare children's fantasy in the parent and peer contexts.

According to Vygotsky (1976) children's cognitive abilities develop in a socialcontext. He contended that a more competent partner, typically an adult, providessupport so that children can reach higher developmental levels. These more competentadults teach children within the children's zones of proximal development. Theassertion that adult tuition is a crucial part of the development of fantasy play wassupported recently by Deloache & Plaetzer (1985). They found 15 to 30 month-oldchildren's symbolic play to be more sophisticated when the children played with theirmothers than when they played alone. This is a limited comparison however in thatonly non-social/social contexts were compared. We extend this work by comparingtwo different social contexts (peers and adults).

Vygotsky did not differentiate between mothers and fathers as more competentpartners. However, research indicates that mothers and fathers interact differently withtheir infants (Landerholm & Scriven, 1981; Power & Parke, 1982; Snow, Jacklin &Maccoby, 1983) with fathers often being more salient than mothers to their infants ina play context (Lamb, 1977). In a recent review article, Block (1983), also, detailedevidence of sex-differentiated parental behaviours particularly for fathers. If thedifferences between mothers' and fathers' play with their infants continue through thepreschool period, we would expect to find differences in amounts of play produced inmother and father play contexts.

Piaget stressed the role of the physical environment and peer relations in children'sdevelopment. In support of Piaget's position, studies of preschool children haveunderlined the importance of familiar peers to a child's rich fantasy play (e.g. Doyle,Connolly & Rivest, 1980). For example, Pellegrini (1984) found with four-year-olds,peer presence was positively related to a relatively advanced form of play, namelyinteractive-dramatic play, while adult presence was negatively correlated with inter-active-dramatic play. The first objective of the present study was to examine thedifferential effects of two social contexts, i.e. parents and peers, on children's symbolicplay. If we accept Piaget's emphasis on the importance of peers, we would except tosee children producing more fantasy in a peer context than a parent context. If, theother hand, Vygotsky's emphasis on the importance of adults is correct, we wouldexpect greater fantasy production in a parent context.

The second objective of the study was to examine the relations between play andreceptive vocabulary. While both Piaget and Vygotsky viewed play as important, theydiffered in the importance they assigned to pretence. Piaget saw fantasy as egocentricand assimilative, as part of the developmental process but not as the part which movesdevelopment forward. In contrast, Vygotsky saw fantasy as creating a zone of proximaldevelopment through which the child develops cognitively.

Both Piaget and Vygotsky did, however, see fantasy, as a private symbol systemdeveloping along with understanding of the social symbol system, language. Althoughthe development of play may be related to the development of language learning(Sachs, 1980), studies showing correlations between play and language have been

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Fantasy Play 271

inconsistent (Fein, 1981). If fantasy and a form of symbolic understanding, namely,vocabulary comprehension, (Fein, 1981) develop simultaneously, there should be arelationship between the number of children's fantasy transformations and theirreceptive vocabularies. Further, if Piaget was right in his assessment of the role of peerinteraction in causing mental growth through accommodation, then children's fantasyin a peer context might also relate to a child's receptive vocabulary.

Both Vygotsky and Piaget also saw play as performing an important role inchildren's social development. Vygotsky (1976) contended that adult tuition wascritical in the development of children's social abilities. El'konin (1966) expandedVygotsky's work and explained how children come to understand social relationshipsbetween adults by assuming the roles of adults in play. In contrast, Piaget (1932) saidthat children learn to understand other peoples' points of view as they are forced toaccommodate their thinking to the ideas of others, particularly in a peer interactionsituaton. Although Piaget's discussion of the role of peers referred to older children,one may speculate as to whether the processes of accommodation might operate at anearlier stage than that discussed by Piaget. Since recent research, has questionedPiaget's view of pre-schoolers as being predominantly egocentric (Lempers, Flavell &Flavell, 1977; Light, 1979; Shantz, 1975), it may be instructive to examine the role ofpeers in the development of role-taking abilities.

The third objective of this study was to extend the parent-peer comparison byexamining the relations of children's fantasy play with parents and peers to measuresof children's social cognition. If role-taking in the fantasy context does help developchildren's perspective-taking abilities, then their fantasy play should be related totheir perspective-taking abilities. If parents model fantasy play to extend a child'spoint of view, then perspective-taking might relate to children's fantasy in a parentcontext.

In summary, we predicted that children would produce different numbers of fantasytransformations in the different contexts of mothers, fathers and peers. We predictedthat these fantasy transformations would vary according to the age and sex of thechildren. We were also interested in the relations of children's fantasy transformationsin the parent and peer context to children's perspective-taking abilities and theirreceptive vocabularies.

Methods

Subjects

The subjects in the study were 20 pre-school children (32-68 months of age), theirparents and 20 peers matched for age. The children were divided by a median-splitprocedure into two age groups. The ages of the children in the younger age groupranged from 32-46 months (Af=40.4) and the ages of the children in the older agegroup ranged from 48-68 months, (M=54.3). All the children in the study, both targetchildren and their peers, attended classes at a university pre-school. The 20 familiesobserved in the study were contacted by telephone and the study was explained tothem. Of the parents who were asked to participate, (iV=26) only three declined,citing time constraints as the problem which prevented them from participating.Because of equipment problems, data collection on three of the families was notcompleted and the data collected was not used.

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272 J. C. Perlmutter & A. D. Pellegrini

Materials

The play observations were conducted in a laboratory playroom in the pre-school. Aone-way mirror in an adjacent observation room permitted inconspicuous observationand audio- and video-taping. The play materials used in this study were chosen tofacilitate dramatic-fantasy play production for both boys and girls. Materials includedtwo pretend doctor's kits with related equipment.

Procedure

Children were observed in two 10-minute sessions in the playroom with oppositegender, same age peers from their pre-school classes. Dyads were formed in each of theclasses by matching boys and girls close in age (range of differences in ages=0-7months, M=2.25 months apart). Dyads had been formed for another study. Childrenwere taken from their classrooms to a playroom. Children were told that they had 10minutes to play. While the children played, the first author, in an adjacent observationroom, recording proceedings on video- and audio-tape and took notes. Data from thetwo observation sessions were aggregated. (Wachs, 1987).

Each parent also came to the centre for two 10-minute play sessions with his or herchild. Session order was partially counterbalanced with sessions scheduled for parentalconvenience. At the beginning of each session parents were told to play as theynormally would at home. Parent sessions were audio-taped and running notes weretaken.

Scoring

Transcripts were prepared with reference to audio, video and/or running records.From the transcripts, all utterances that expressed nonliteralness or make-believe wereidentified and classified.

Fantasy transformations. Seven individual fantasy categories were adapted fromMcLoyd (1980) and used in coding transcripts of play. Fantasy variables underinvestigation included the seven individual fantasy categories, total fantasy and twogrouped variables of object and ideational transformations. The categories wereassumed to be hierarchical with the first four categories forming a sub-category ofObject Transformations. These categories all included fantasy that involved a concreteor object referent. Each of the categories is accompanied by examples from thetranscripts for clarification.

Animation involved the attribution of living or human characteristics to anonliving object, most often a doll. "You can hold this one and feed her." "This isgoing to hurt real bad, baby." "She has to go to sleep."Reification involved taking an existing object (e.g. play syringe, blood pressurecuff, stethoscope, etc.) and pretending that it really worked. It was also codedwhen someone pretended the existence of an imaginary substance related to anactual object (pretend milk in a toy bottle or medicine in the toy medicine bottle).Whilst a child was checking a doll with a-stethoscope the parent said, "Can youhear her heart? Is it beating?" "I'm gonna put some medicine in the baby'sbottle."

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Fantasy Play 273

Attribution of Object or Person Property included references to pretend physicalconditions associated with real people and pretend noises made by instruments."It's ringing." (Referring to the toy telephone). "What's the matter withme/you?" "Think you're dead."Substitution involved giving a new identity to an existing object. An example was'writing' on the 'chart' which was really a card for heater maintenance with a 'pen'which was really a toy thermometer.

The last three modes of transformations were grouped together as Ideational Modesof Transformation because they involved pretending that was relatively independent ofconcrete referents.

Object Realism was coded when there was pretence that an imaginary object ormaterial existed. "Now we have stickers." (when there were no stickers).Referring to poison or chemicals in the baby was also object realism.Situational Attribution involved pretence that an imaginary situation existed.Situational attribution was coded if a situation was named clearly or if theutterance referred to a setting enactment. "Pretend we both lived together." "Yougonna give that baby a bath?" "How much do I need to pay you for taking care ofElizabeth?"Role Attribution was coded when there was portrayal of an imaginary character ofrole (i.e. nurse, doctor, mother, patient). The category also included telephoneconversations which implied imaginary 'phone partners. "I'll be the nurse and yoube the doctor." "You take a look at her, Doctor."

Reliability of fantasy coding was determined by examination of 10% of the 120transcripts; a total of eight parent and four peer transcripts. These transcripts wererandomly chosen and were coded independently for fantasy transformations by thefirst author and a doctoral student. A total of 609 fantasy utterances were identifiedand coded. A reliability of 92.8% was achieved.

Perspective-taking and Receptive Vocabulary

Tests of receptive vocabulary and two perspective-taking tasks were chosen to providegeneral estimates of the children's verbal and social abilities, respectively. Perspective-taking ability was defined as the child's ability to predict the emotions and the desiresof others. Affective perspective-taking was assessed using Light's (1979) modificationof Borke's (1973) procedure. Each child was presented with a cut-out figure of a boyor girl. Each figure had four faces representing happy, sad, angry, and scared. A seriesof eight stories was read, each describing a situation. The child was asked to, "Find theface that shows how feels". Scores for this measure ranged from 5, for allstories correct to 0, for those children who could not get the idea of matching faces atall.

Following Burns & Brainerd (1979), cognitive perspective taking was assessed bypresenting the following array of items: a flower, a purse, a necklace, a pair of men'ssocks, a tie, a 'Barbie' type doll and a truck, to each child and asking the child to selectan appropriate birthday present for (1) mother, (2) father, (3) a boy, (4) a girl and (5)their teacher. Each response was scored twice, once for age appropriateness and oncefor sex appropriateness. Following Rushton, Brainerd & Pressley (1983) the twoperpective-taking measures were aggregated to form a more stable measure; the twomeasures were significantly inter-correlated (r=0.58). The Peabody Picture Vocabu-

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274 J. C. Perlmutter & A. D. Pellegrini

lary Test (Form L) was administered in the halls near the children's classrooms. Rawscores were converted to Standard Score Equivalents.

Design

Age (2: 3 and 4 year-olds) and sex (2) were used as between-subjects variables, playcontext (3: mother, father and peer) was the within-subjects variable. Fantasytransformations (of subject children, not peers) were the dependent variables and wereanalysed in two stages. First, an age (2) X sex (2) X play context (3) MANOVA wasused to analyse object, ideational and total numbers of fantasy transformations. TheMANOVA was run because of the interdependence of the dependent measures.Secondly, univariate analyses were used on each of the fantasy measures, (Hummel &Sligo, 1971). Post hoc comparisons on significant and interactive effects utilizedStudent's Neuman-Keuls procedure, at the 0.05 level.

In order to determine the extent to which children's fantasy transformations wererelated to children's perspective-taking, individual measures of fantasy transformationswere regressed through a step-wise procedure on to an aggregate score of perspective-taking. In order to determine the extent to which children's fantasy transformationswere related to children's receptive vocabularies, individual measures of fantasytransformations were regressed through a step-wise procedure on to scores from thePeabody Picture Vocabulary Test.

Results

Objective 1

The MANOVA to determine the effects of age (2: 3 and 4 year-olds), sex (2), andplay context (3: mother, father and peer) on the three summed measures of thechildren's production of verbal fantasy (object fantasy, ideational fantasy, and totalfantasy) revealed a significant main effect for sex, F (2, 47) = 10.32, p<0.0l, and asignificant context X age interaction, F (4, 94)=4.54, p<0.01. No other main effectsor interactions were significant. The MANOVA analysis used also generated 2 x 2 x 3univariate analyses on the three summed fantasy measures (object fantasy, ideationalfantasy and total fantasy). The means and standard deviations of all categories arepresented in Table I. Only the sex and context X age effects were examined in theunivariate analyses because only they had effects in the MANOVA.

The subsequent 2 x 2 x 3 ANOVAs on the three summed fantasy categories revealedsignificant main effects for sex. For the three dependent variables, (i.e. objecttransformations, ideational transformations and total fantasy) girls generated moretransformations than boys. The means are presented in Table II.

Significant age X context interactions were observed for all three fantasy scores. Themeans for the interactions are displayed in Table III. Parent scores at both age levelsdid not differ significantly from each other for any of the three transformationcategories. However, younger children used more object fantasy transformations withmothers and fathers than with peers. Younger children also used significantly moreobject transformations with their parents than did older children. Older children usedmore object transformations with peers than with fathers.

For ideational transformations with peers, younger children produced significantlyfewer transformations with peers than did older children. Older children produced

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Fantasy Play 275

TABLE I. Means and standard deviations for child fantasy by sex and age ofchild and by context

Variable

GirlsObject MObject FObject PIdeaMIdeaFIdeaP

BoysObject MObject FObject PIdeaMIdeaFIdeaP

M

48.445.621.834.038.621.4

36.636.414.425.616.017.6

SD

Younger

19.715.211.0318.912.69.6

22.1917.57.7

14.915.4712.6

M

44.031.448.647.229.443.0

6.49.0

26.812.88.6

45.2

SD

Older

•

14.516.143.710.524.322.0

4.397.89.3

15.08.4

15.1

Note. There were five observations in each category. Context=mother,father, peer; Object=children's object fantasy transformations; Idea=chil-dren's ideational fantasy transformations; M=with mothers, F = with fathers;P=with peers.

TABLE II. Means for fantasy

Variable

Object transformationsIdeational transformationsTotal fantasy

transformations

Boys

21.620.9642.56

for boys and girls

Girls

39.9635.675.56

TABLE III. Means for summed fantasy variable for childrenby age X context

Context

Object MObject FObject P

Ideal MIdeaFIdeaPTotal MTotal FTotal P

Younger

42.54118.1

29.827.3019.5

72.368.337.6

Older

25.220.237.7

301944.1

55.239.281.8

There were 10 observations in each category. Con-text = mother, father, peer; Object=children's object fantasytransformations; Idea=children's ideational fantasy transfor-mations; M=with mothers; F=with fathers; P=with peers.

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276 J. C. Perlmutter & A. D. Pellegrini

more ideational transformations with peers than with their fathers. The number ofideational transformations did not differ significantly for older and younger childrenplaying with mothers and fathers.

For total fantasy scores, younger children used more fantasy transformations withmothers and fathers than with peers. In contrast, the older group averaged morefantasy transformations when playing with peers than they did when playing withmothers or fathers.

In summary, results obtained from the analyses for the first objective, indicated thatchildren's age interacted with the social context to affect their fantasy play. Youngerchildren produced more fantasy transformations with their parents than with theirpeers, while older pre-schoolers used more fantasy with their peers than with theirparents. Girls used more fantasy than did boys in all contexts.

Objective Two

The relationship between individual categories of children's fantasy transformations andtheir receptive vocabulary scores, was determined by a stepwise multiple regressionprocedure. In this model, the individual fantasy categories with parents and with peerswere entered as the predictor variables and the children's PPVT scores were the criterionmeasures. Variables were entered in unspecified order. The best predictors of children'sreceptive vocabulary scores were animation with parents, situational attribution withpeers and situational attribution with parents. The model accounted for 63% of thevariance in the measure of receptive vocabulary. This analysis is summarised in Table IV.

TABLE IV. Stepwise regression analyses for fantasy categories predictors ofchildren's receptive vocabulary

Variable entered

Animation w/parentsSituation w/peersSituation w/parents

*p<0.05, **p<0.0l.

Objective Three

R2

0.330.550.64

df

1,182, 183, 18

F

8.19*9.83**8.89**

B-value

0.370.620.51

In order to determine the relationship between children's fantasy transformations andtheir perspective-taking scores a stepwise multiple regression model was constructedwherein the individual fantasy categories, with parents and with peers, were thepredictor variables and the aggregate of the two perspective-taking measures was thecriterion measure. The variables were entered into the equation in unspecified order.The best predictors of children's perspective-taking were object property with peers,situational attribution with peers, imaginary object with parents, substitution withpeers and imaginary object with peers. The model accounted for 68% of the variance inour measures of perspective-taking. This analysis is summarised in Table V.

Discussion

Objective One

Parents versus peers. The interaction between age and social context (mother, father

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TABLE V. Stepwise regression analyses for fantasy category predictors of children'sperspective-taking scores

Variable entered R2 df F B-value

Object property w/peersSituation w/peersImaginary obj. w/parentsSubstitution w/peersImaginary obj. w/peers

0.310.420.520.630.68

1,192, 193,194, 195,19

8.05*6.26**5.80**6.44**6.09**

0.680.100.100.51

- . 4 4

*/><0.05, **/><0.01.

and peer) seems to indicate that younger children's fantasy was facilitated in theparental context. Older children's fantasy, on the other hand, was facilitated by thepeer context. This is consistent with Pellegrini (1984). Children just beginning fantasyplay may need adult support and structuring. This differential response of youngerversus older children sheds some light on the theoretical questions posed by theliterature. It appears, as Vygotsky (1976) hypothesized, that younger pre-schoolers dorely on more competent adult support. With development, children may internalisethese adult strategies and use them to engage in and sustain play with peers. Thus, thetwo apparently opposing theories may in fact both have validity, each at differentpoints in a child's development. Very young children (infancy through age 3) maydepend heavily on adult support and structure. Older pre-school children 4 and 5 havethe facility to sustain play with peers themselves. The rinding that older childrenproduced more fantasy transformations with peers than with parents suggests that theimportance of adult support for children's pretence decreases over the pre-schoolperiod.

Mothers versus fathers. The clear differences between mother's and father's behaviourstowards their offspring that have been reported from studies of parent-infant interac-tions were not evident in this study. Children did not differ significantly in the amountof fantasy they produced when playing with mothers or with fathers. The lack ofsignificant differences in children's responses to sex-differentiated parental behavioursmay be due to the small sample size used in this study. Children did produce higher,albeit non-significant, amounts of fantasy with mothers than with fathers.

Research by Pellegrini, McGillicuddy-DeLisi, Sigel & Brody (1985) suggests thatthe demand characteristics of an experimental playroom situation may mask mother-father differences. Both parents may react to the researcher's request to play byfollowing their children's lead in observational laboratory settings. Pellegrini's (Pelle-grini et al., 1985) research in experimental settings has not shown the mother-fatherdifferences that other researchers have noted in home settings. Indeed, both parentsadjusted their levels of interaction to their child's level of competence.

Further, the props provided by researchers may mask parent and parent by sexdifferences. Block (1983) reports on a number of studies that indicate that adults giveboys a greater variety of toys than they give girls and that children are likely to beoffered sex-typed toys more often than cross-sex toys. Eisenberg, Wolchik, Hernandez& Pasternack (1985) asked parents to bring toys to the observation sessions. Parentsbrought toys that were consistent with their child's sex. Eisenberg et al. note a'channelling' effect of the children's play as a result of differential toy selection. In

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278 J. C. Perlmutter & A. D. Pellegrini

studies where parents and children choose toys, the toys themselves may producedifferences between parents that would not be found where toys were experimentallydetermined. The point is that some reported mother-father differences may be as mucha function of context (i.e. toy available) as a function of real differences betweenparental interaction styles. The pre-selected toys used in this study may have restrictedthe possible differences between parents. Mothers and fathers may have been respond-ing in similar ways to the implicity scripts suggested by the doctor props. Moreambiguous materials or a greater variety of materials might have elicited differentialresponses from mothers and fathers. In fact, when context is controlled there may befewer differences between parental behaviours than are seen in more naturalisticuncontrolled situations.

Gender differences in amount of fantasy play. Boys produced fewer fantasy transfor-mations than girls did. This finding is consistent with McLoyd's (1980) findings. Thissex difference may be due to parents rewarding young girls's play in dramatic activitieswhile discouraging boys play in such areas. Parental and peer expectations for sexappropriate behaviour may have suppressed the boys' levels of fantasy transformations.Although the doctor props were chosen to provide a fantasy play situation which couldappeal to both boys and girls, it may be that girls were more likely than boys to usepretend themes with these dramatic props (Rubin, Fein & Vandenburg, 1983). On theother hand, boys may prefer fantastic superheroes themes (Cramer & Hogan, 1975;McLoyd, Warren & Thomas, 1984; Sanders & Harper, 1976). Further, boys are lesslikely than girls to play with toys they perceive as sex inappropriate (Rubin et al.,1983). Perhaps the two doll patients elicited more play from girls than from boys orperhaps boys were subtly or openly discourged from using the doll props. For example,one father asked his son what the dolls were there for. Subsequently, both father andson agreed that the dolls were for girls to use.

Objective Two

Relations between fantasy and receptive vocabulary. The relations between receptivevocabulary and verbal fantasy were suggested by the theoretical view of fantasy as apart of children's increasing symbolic understanding. The assumption was that fantasyproduction and receptive vocabulary reflect underlying representational competence.The results of this study support the hypothesised relations between receptivevocabulary and some kinds of fantasy play.

The two fantasy categories that were related to receptive vocabulary may havetapped the narrative aspect (Galda & Pellegrini, 1985) of fantasy. Animation invari-ably involved doll play. The dolls were patients and some children and parents woveelaborate story scripts around the dolls' illnesses. Situational attribution was also codedwhen children and their peers or their parents built connected stories and scenarios.These data suggest that the interest in using and the ability to produce both animationand situational attribution appear to be related to verbal abilities more strongly than toother aspects of fantasy. Such story-like narratives, or narrative competence, arerelated to receptive vocabulary (Torrance & Olson, 1985).

Objective Three

Relations between fantasy and perspective-taking. Four of the individual fantasycategories with peers and only one category of fantasy with parents were related to

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children's perspective-taking scores. These results appear to support Piaget's view ofgrowth through accommodation in a peer context. More fantasy categories in a peercontext, as opposed to a parent context, were related to perspective-taking. Children'sability to predict the feelings and thoughts of others may be strengthened by peercontact. Alternatively, the ability to understand the points of view of others mayfacilitate and sustain fantasy play. When conflict arises, in order for play to continue,children must resolve the conflict. Resolution of conflict typically involves accommo-dation to the point of view of the other person.

The only parent fantasy category which related to perspective-taking was imaginaryobject play. This category required clear communication and consideration of the playpartner to facilitate the use of imaginary objects. Imaginary object play with peers wasnegatively related to perspective-taking. Perhaps children who used this category withpeers did not take their peers into account when pretending about imaginary objects.Other parent fantasy categories were not related to perspective-taking. Children mayhave to explain less to parents than peers. Parents, in this study appeared more willingthan peers to 'go along' with their children.

If one accepts Mead's (1977) postulation of the theoretical relations betweenperspective-taking and role play in a fantasy context, significant results for the firstregression analysis would be expected. Role attribution is one category that should bemost closely related to Mead's theory, but it was not found to be significantly relatedto perspective-taking in this study. In a recent study, Cole & LaVoie (1985) foundperspective-taking to be negatively correlated with material play (a category similar tothe category of object transformations used in the present study) while positively, butnonsignificantly, correlated with ideational play. The categories that we found to berelated to perspective-taking fell into both the object and ideational modes. Perhaps byconsidering them separately, we were able to isolate discrete categories that may havebeen masked by aggregation.

Applied Implications of the Study

This study seems to indicate that the fantasy of two and three year-olds is stimulatedby adult presence. This finding appears to support Vygotsky's notion of the zone ofproximal development. Parents and teachers may be advised that they probably play animportant role in children's learning how to pretend. Examination of the transcriptsreveals numerous parental efforts to involve children in pretend play. Parents oftenhelped provide continuity to the evolving doctor scripts.. Teachers of young pre-schoolers may need to model pretend play informally in the same manner that theparents in this study did with their children.

Parents and teachers of older pre-schoolers should be aware that adult presence maynot be as important to them as peer contact. Peer contact seemed to be associated withhigher levels of fantasy transformations for this sample of four and five year-olds.Thus for older children, Piaget's view of peer interaction as the crucible for develop-ment is supported. Teachers and parents need to be aware of the need for peer contact,time and space for playing. The adult role in older children's pretending should be lessintrusive than with younger children.

While the findings from the regression equations do not establish any causal links,they do reaffirm the relationship between children's play and their social and cognitivedevelopment. The differential contributions of parent play and peer play to thevariables in question can be interpreted to support both the theories of Piaget and

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280 J. C. Perlmutter & A. D. Pellegrini

Vygotsky. The role of play with different partners seems to serve diferential functionsfor the pre-school child. These relationships between play and development suggestthe importance of varied play opportunities in the pre-school years.

Acknowledgements

This study is based on a dissertation submitted by the first author under the directionof the second author to the University of Georgia in partial fulfillment of therequirements for the degree of Doctor of Education. We acknowledge the helpfulcomments of Dan Perlmutter and Steve White which made this paper more coherent.The authors wish to thank the children, parents, and teachers at the McPhaul Centerfor their generous participation.

Correspondence: Jane C. Perlmutter, Department of Early Childhood Education, 427Adernold, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.

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