The DOI matches its Crossref record; 90 of the 92 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Pretense and representation: The origins of "theory of mind."
Abstract
One of the major developments of the second year of human life is the emergence of the ability to pretend. A child's knowledge of a real situation is apparently contradicted and distorted by pretense. If, as generally assumed, the child is just beginning to construct a system for internally representing such knowledge, why is this system of representation not undermined by its use in both comprehend ing and producing pretense? In this article I present a theoretical analysis of the representational mechanism underlying this ability. This mechanism extends the power of the infant's existing capac-ity for (primary) representation, creating a capacity for metarepresentation. It is this, developing toward the end of infancy, that underlies the child's new abilities to pretend and to understand pretense in others. There is a striking isomorphism between the three fundamental forms of pretend play and three crucial logical properties of mental stale expressions in language. This isomorphism points to a common underlying form of internal representation that is here called metarepresenta-tion. A performance model, the decoupler, is outlined embodying ideas about how an infant might compute the complex function postulated to underlie pretend play. This model also reveals pretense as an early manifestation of the ability to understand mental states. Aspects of later preschool development, both normal and abnormal, are discussed in the light of the new model. This
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Moreover, more theoretically sophisticated accounts of pretense have tended to interpret pretend play as an epiphenomenon of other abilities, such as metarepresentation or theory of mind, rather than as an activity that could shape learning or development (Baron-Cohen, 1995;Currie, 1995;Leslie, 1987;Lillard, 2001;Nichols & Stich, 2000).”
From Pretense and possibility—A theoretical proposal about the effects of pretend play on development: Comment on Lillard et al. (2013). (2013) · cites this paper as Leslie, 1987
In the citing paper
“In PP, this primary representation (real‐world mental model) is raised to a second‐order representation or metarepresentation (mental model of the pretend world).”
From A plausible role of imagination in pretend play, counterfactual reasoning, and executive functions (2023) · cites this paper as Leslie, 1987
In the citing paper
“Both PP and CFR theorists make clear that alternative representations are imaginary representations derived from real‐world premises.”
From A plausible role of imagination in pretend play, counterfactual reasoning, and executive functions (2023) · cites this paper as Leslie (1987)
In the citing paper
“Childhood play also builds enduring intellectual resources by increasing levels of creativity (Sherrod & Singer, 1989), creating theory of mind (Leslie, 1987), and fueling brain development (Panksepp, 1998).”
From The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. (2001) · cites this paper as Leslie, 1987
In the citing paper
“Being playful, for instance, can build physical resources (Boulton & Smith, 1992), social resources (Aron, Norman, Aron, McKenna, & Heyman, 2000;Lee, 1983), and intellectual resources (Leslie, 1987;Panksepp, 1998).”
From The Undoing Effect of Positive Emotions (2000) · cites this paper as Leslie, 1987
Citations
Cites
Searle, J. R. (1969) · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139173438 · Cited by 11,718
(1943) · The Nervous child · Cited by 8,870
Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?
Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00076512 · Cited by 8,743
Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind” ?
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8 · Cited by 8,599 · cited 6×
“Where will the hider look for the chocolate? This simple test can be easily administered to young children and even to mentally retarded groups (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed
Cooper, A. M., & Michels, R. (1981) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.138.1.128 · Cited by 7,419
Foxman, D., & Bateson, G. (1973) · The Western Political Quarterly · doi:10.2307/446833 · Cited by 7,263
Wimmer, H. (1983) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(83)90004-5 · Cited by 6,305
Play, Dreams And Imitation In Childhood
Piaget, J. (2013) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315009698 · Cited by 5,404
Fodor, J. A. (1975) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 4,588
Smith, T. L., & Chomsky, N. (1982) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2184681 · Cited by 2,800
Play and Its Role in the Mental Development of the Child
Vygotsky, L. (1967) · Soviet Psychology · doi:10.2753/rpo1061-040505036 · Cited by 2,757
Quine, W. V. O. (1980) · Harvard University Press eBooks · doi:10.2307/j.ctv1c5cx5c · Cited by 2,439
Barwise, J., & Perry, J. R. (1981) · The Journal of Philosophy · doi:10.2307/2026578 · Cited by 2,361
A Handbook of Child Psychology
(1934) · Nature · doi:10.1038/133515b0 · Cited by 2,295
Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders
(2005) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9780470939352 · Cited by 2,262
Boër, S. E., & Jackendoff, R. S. (1985) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2184719 · Cited by 2,170
(1989) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.26-5332 · Cited by 1,760
A theory of cognitive development: The control and construction of hierarchies of skills.
Fischer, K. W. (1980) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.87.6.477 · Cited by 1,719
(1955) · Psychiatric research report · Cited by 1,617
Three-year-olds’ difficulty with false belief: The case for a conceptual deficit
Perner, J., Leekam, S. R., & Wimmer, H. (1987) · British Journal of Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-835x.1987.tb01048.x · Cited by 1,550
The Emergence of Symbols: Cognition and Communication in Infancy
Bates, E. A., & Benigni, L. (2015) · Cited by 1,461
Carnap, R. (1947) · Cited by 1,218
From communication to language—a psychological perspective
Bruner, J. S. (1974) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(74)90012-2 · Cited by 1,199
Lipsitt, L. P., & Rovee‐Collier, C. (1981) · Ablex Publishing Corp. eBooks · Cited by 1,146
Do six-month-old infants perceive causality?
Leslie, A. M., & Keeble, S. (1987) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/s0010-0277(87)80006-9 · Cited by 1,049
Self-citationPsychosemantics: The Problem of Meaning in the Philosophy of Mind
Barresi, J., & Fodor, J. A. (1989) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1423122 · Cited by 1,047
Talking About Internal States: The Acquisition of an Explicit Theory of Mind
Bretherton, I., & Beeghly, M. (1982) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.18.6.906 · Cited by 985
Intention and Convention in Speech Acts
Strawson, P. F. (1964) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2183301 · Cited by 972
(1983) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 909
Mechanical, behavioural and Intentional understanding of picture stories in autistic children
Baron‐Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1986) · British Journal of Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-835x.1986.tb01003.x · Cited by 826
Self-citationThe acquisition of mental verbs: A systematic investigation of the first reference to mental state
Shatz, M., Wellman, H. M., & Silber, S. (1983) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(83)90008-2 · Cited by 761
Representations: Philosophical Essays on the Foundations of Cognitive Science
Fodor, J. A. (1981) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 717
Ignorance versus False Belief: A Developmental Lag in Attribution of Epistemic States
Hogrefe, G.-J., Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1986) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1130337 · Cited by 715
Pretend Play in Childhood: An Integrative Review
Fein, G. G. (1981) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129497 · Cited by 705
Development of the appearance-reality distinction
Flavell, J. H., Flavell, E. R., & Green, F. L. (1983) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/0010-0285(83)90005-1 · Cited by 686
Utterer’s Meaning, Sentence-Meaning, and Word-Meaning
Grice, H. (1968) · Studies in cognitive systems · doi:10.1007/978-94-009-2727-8_2 · Cited by 585
Autism: A Reappraisal of Concepts and Treatment
Rutter, M. L., & Schopler, E. (1978) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 584
The Oxford Companion to the Mind
Gregory, R. L. (1989) · International Clinical Psychopharmacology · doi:10.1097/00004850-198901000-00013 · Cited by 532
The nature and plausibility of Cognitivism
Haugeland, J. (1978) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00074148 · Cited by 518
Ullman, S. (1980) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x0000546x · Cited by 497
From exploration to play: A cross-sectional study of infant free play behavior.
Belsky, J., & Most, R. K. (1981) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.17.5.630 · Cited by 477
Toward Symbolic Functioning: Structure of Early Pretend Games and Potential Parallels with Language.
McCune-Nicolich, L. (1981) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129078 · Cited by 469
Baron‐Cohen, S. (1987) · British Journal of Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-835x.1987.tb01049.x · Cited by 462
Renée Baillargeon, B. (1986) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(86)90052-1 · Cited by 437
Butterfield, J., Barwise, J., & Perry, J. (1986) · The Philosophical Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2219775 · Cited by 423
Symbolic Play and Language Comprehension in Autistic Children
Ungerer, J. A., & Sigman, M. (1981) · Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0002-7138(09)60992-4 · Cited by 365
Mechanisms Of Cognitive Development
Siegler, R. S. (1989) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.40.1.353 · Cited by 341
Sensorimotor functioning and communication in mute autistic children
Curcio, F. (1978) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf01539631 · Cited by 316
SYMBOLIC PLAY IN SEVERELY MENTALLY RETARDED AND IN AUTISTIC CHILDREN
Wing, L., Gould, J., Yeates, S. R., & Brierly, L. M. (1977) · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.1977.tb00426.x · Cited by 308
The development of children's knowledge about the appearance–reality distinction.
Flavell, J. H. (1986) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.41.4.418 · Cited by 281
Beyond Sensorimotor Intelligence: Assessment of Symbolic Maturity Through Analysis of Pretend Play.
Nicolich, L. M. (1977) · Merrill-palmer Quarterly · Cited by 266
Spatiotemporal Continuity and the Perception of Causality in Infants
Leslie, A. M. (1984) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p130287 · Cited by 258
Self-citationOn Carnap's Analysis of Statements of Assertion and Belief
Church, A. (1950) · Analysis · doi:10.1093/analys/10.5.97 · Cited by 245
Children's Understanding of the Distinction between Real and Apparent Emotion
Harris, P. L., Donnelly, K., Guz, G. R., & Pitt-Watson, R. (1986) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1986.tb00253.x · Cited by 239
When is attribution of beliefs justified? [P&W]
Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1978) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00076895 · Cited by 228
A Developmental Sequence of Agent Use in Late Infancy
Watson, M. W., & Fischer, K. W. (1977) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1128331 · Cited by 198
A transformational analysis of pretending.
Fein, G. G. (1975) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0076568 · Cited by 193
Early childhood autism and the question of egocentrism
Hobson, R. P. (1984) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf02408558 · Cited by 191
Preschool Children's Use of Objects in Symbolic Play
Elder, J. L., & Pederson, D. R. (1978) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1978.tb02341.x · Cited by 175
Language Disorder and Infantile Autism
Rutter, M. L. (1978) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-0787-7_6 · Cited by 159
The symbolic and object play of children with autism: A review
Wulff, S. B. (1985) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1007/bf01531600 · Cited by 157
Decentration and Integration of the Child's Play in the Second Year
Fenson, L., & Ramsay, D. S. (1980) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129604 · Cited by 154
Young children's conception of lying: Lexical realism—Moral subjectivism
Wimmer, H., Gruber, S., & Perner, J. (1984) · Journal of Experimental Child Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-0965(84)90055-9 · Cited by 126
Developmental Changes in the Representation of Objects in Symbolic Play from 18 to 34 Months of Age
Ungerer, J. A., Zelazo, P. R., Kearsley, R. B., & O'Leary, K. (1981) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1981.tb03031.x · Cited by 126
Four-Year-Olds' Understanding of Pretend, Forget, and Know: Evidence for Propositional Operations
Macnamara, J., Baker, E., & Olson, C. L. (1976) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1976.tb03393.x · Cited by 106
Development of object transformations in early pretend play.
Jackowitz, E. R., & Watson, M. W. (1980) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.16.6.543 · Cited by 103
Development of social roles in elicited and spontaneous behavior during the preschool years.
Watson, M. W., & Fischer, K. W. (1980) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.16.5.483 · Cited by 102
Symbolic Functioning in Childhood
Korzenik, D., Franklin, M. B., & Smith, N. R. (1981) · Studies in Art Education · doi:10.2307/1320075 · Cited by 99
Pretend Play and Patterns of Cognition in Down's Syndrome Children
Hill, P. M., & McCune-Nicolich, L. (1981) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1981.tb03087.x · Cited by 98
Learning via observation during the second year of life.
Abravanel, E., & Gingold, H. (1985) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.21.4.614 · Cited by 90
Bretherton, I., O'Connell, B., Shore, C. M., & Bates, E. A. (1984) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-132680-7.50014-4 · Cited by 87
Development of recursive awareness of intention.
Shultz, T. R., & Cloghesy, K. (1981) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/0012-1649.17.4.465 · Cited by 80
Fenson, L., & Ramsay, D. S. (1981) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1129108 · Cited by 78
Lash, J. H., & Whittaker, J. R. (1974) · Cited by 77
Sensorimotor skills and language comprehension in autistic children
Sigman, M., & Ungerer, J. A. (1981) · Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology · doi:10.1007/bf00919111 · Cited by 75
Representation and Recall in Infancy
Mandler, J. M. (1984) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-9364-5_4 · Cited by 74
Perceptual Knowledge of Objects in Infancy
Mehler, J., Walker, E. C. T., & Garrett, M. F. (2017) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315521930-33 · Cited by 72
(2018) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781315099071 · Cited by 68
Theory Building in Developmental Psychology
(1986) · Advances in psychology · doi:10.1016/s0166-4115(09)x6001-2 · Cited by 66
Tizard, B., & Harvey, D. (1977) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 65
de Gelder, B. (2026) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781042011896 · Cited by 63
XIII—Styles of Mental Representation
Dennett, D. C. (1983) · Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (Hardback) · doi:10.1093/aristotelian/83.1.213 · Cited by 61
The Control of Animate and Inanimate Components in Pretend Play and Language
Corrigan, R. (1982) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1982.tb04174.x · Cited by 61
Fantasy play and related cognitive development in 2- to 6-year-olds.
Cole, D., & LaVoie, J. C. (1985) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.21.2.233 · Cited by 48
Fantasy play of toddlers and preschoolers.
Field, T. M., de Stefano, L., & Koewler, J. H. (1982) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.18.4.503 · Cited by 44
The role of action in the development of pretend play in young children.
Pederson, D. R., Rook-Green, A., & Elder, J. L. (1981) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037//0012-1649.17.6.756 · Cited by 39
The Development of the Young Child's Ability to Anticipate the Outcomes of Simple Causal Events
Keil, F. C. (1979) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1979.tb04129.x · Cited by 26
SYMBOLIC PLAY: THE ROLE OF SUBSTITUTIONS IN PRETENCE AND PUZZLE GAMES
Golomb, C. (1977) · British Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1977.tb02343.x · Cited by 20
Children's conceptions of meaning-message relationships
Robinson, E. J., & Whittaker, S. (1986) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(86)90011-9 · Cited by 18
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Fredrickson, B. L. (2001) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037//0003-066x.56.3.218 · Cited by 18,025
Individual differences in reasoning: Implications for the rationality debate?
Stanovich, K. E., & West, R. F. (2000) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00003435 · Cited by 4,481
The broaden–and–build theory of positive emotions
Fredrickson, B. L. (2004) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1512 · Cited by 4,214
Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2004) · Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders · doi:10.1023/b:jadd.0000022607.19833.00 · Cited by 4,093
Heuristics and Biases: The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment
Bottom, W. P., Gilovich, T. D., Griffin, D., & Kahneman, D. J. (2004) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.2307/20159081 · Cited by 3,583
Metadata
- Authors
- Leslie, A. M.
- Affiliations
- Medical Research Council (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Leslie, Alan M.
- ORCID
- Leslie, Alan M.
- Venue
- Psychological Review
- Published
- 1987-10
- Volume
- 94
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 412-426
- ISSN
- 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1471
- OpenAlex
- W2113669408
- Semantic Scholar
- 1aca0588fb5cf8d512548b4b15d48f1c9de2396d
- Cited by
- 3,379
- References
- 92
- Citations by year
- 2026: 65 · 2025: 92 · 2024: 105 · 2023: 80 · 2022: 110 · 2021: 116 · 2020: 153 · 2019: 110 · 2018: 89 · 2017: 65 · 2016: 86 · 2015: 107 · 2014: 99 · 2013: 142 · 2012: 123
- FWCI
- 36.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Representations and Identity
- Keywords
- theory of mind, pretense, pretend play, metarepresentation, internal representations, infant cognitive development, preschool development, abnormal development
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
