Children Want Factual Stories, Versus Fantasy, More Often Than Adults

NPR:

Childhood is a time for pretend play, imaginary friends and fantastical creatures. Flying ponies reliably beat documentaries with the preschool set.

Yet adults are no strangers to fiction. We love movies and novels, poems and plays. We also love television, even when it isn’t preceded by “reality.

So, what happens as we make our way from childhood to adulthood? Do we ever reallyoutgrow a childlike predilection for make-believe? Or does our fascination with fiction and fantasy simply find new forms of expression?

In a paper published earlier this year, psychologists Jennifer Barnes, Emily Bernstein and Paul Bloom set out to compare children’s and adults’ preferences for fact versus fiction in stories. Their results are surprising — and reveal something important about why we’re so drawn to fiction in the first place.

Read the whole story: NPR