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