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Factors influencing children's hypothetical reference

ABSTRACT Sixty 3- to 6-year-old children were tested in order to assess certain aspects of their ability to answer questions alluding to hypothetical events. Each child was asked four hypothetical questions from each of four topic areas: (1) past-parent, (2) past-fantasy, (3) future-parent and (4) future-fantasy. Although correct responses increased with age for each of the four categories, children more often responded correctly to future hypothetical questions than to past hypothetical questions and to hypothetical questions involving fantasy characters than to hypothetical questions involving the children's parents. Moreover, the interaction of the past-future and parent-fantasy factors yielded an overall pattern of difficulty for the four topic areas. These findings are discussed in terms of the factors which influence the development of hypothetical reference skills.