IntroductionIn the field of developmental psychology, children have become a popular interest. By studying these changes that children experience during the early stages of childhood, researchers improve their knowledge and understanding of how these changes influence children's actions and behaviors. Many have identified that during these stages, children have rapid mental and cognitive development. Likewise, it is believed that during this period, children easily confuse reality with fantasy. This article will include two reviews involving two different studies that assess children's ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality. One will determine how the distinction between fantasy and reality changes with age, while the other will study children's perceptions of storybook entities. Both focus on children's ability to categorize specified objects/people/events.Article 1 - Aim, Hypothesis and Objective of the StudyIt is believed that a fundamental component of human cognitive skills is the ability to differentiate between reality and fantasy. Traditionally, it was assumed that children confused the boundaries between themselves. Yet previous research has shown that three-year-olds are able to make distinctions between reality and non-reality. The first article, published in 2004, describes a study carried out by Sharon & Woolley. They hoped to provide a new perspective on how a preschooler differentiates between fantasy and reality. They believed that children understood these boundaries better than most people think. Believing that children have an understanding of what is "human" and what is not, which they use to determine whether entities are real or fantastical. The main goal of their study was to show this possibility, by exploring what the child...... middle of paper ...... impossible allows for a broader understanding of what can be considered real or fake. Both studies show that increased exposure to fantasy-based activities improves their ability to differentiate and their likelihood of questioning the reality status of various entities/events. It is also important to note that environmental and social factors play a key role in what children believe to be real, especially if "false truths" like Santa Claus are instilled by a dominant figure in the child's life. ReferencesSharon, T. & Woolley, JD (2004). Do monsters dream? Young children's understanding of the fantasy/reality distinction. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22, 293-310. Woolley, J.D. and Cox, V. (2007). Development of beliefs about the reality of storybooks. Developmental Science, 10(5), 681-693. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00612.x