Ks. Rosengren et al., EXPLORING THE RELATION BETWEEN PRESCHOOL CHILDRENS MAGICAL BELIEFS AND CAUSAL THINKING, British journal of developmental psychology, 12, 1994, pp. 69-82
Three studies are presented which examine the degree to which children
engage in magical thinking. We suggest that this is not a monolithic
question that can be answered by a simple 'yes' or 'no', but involves
a number of different facets, including parental input, children's spo
ntaneous beliefs and children's responses to magical events. Conceptio
ns about children's beliefs in magical and fantasy figures were assess
ed by means of a parent survey. Parents reported that children believe
in the reality of a number of fantasy figures and that parents encour
age these beliefs to some degree. In Study 2, 4- and 5-year-old childr
en made a clear distinction between possible and impossible transforma
tions of animals and did not invoke magical means to produce any outco
me. In Study 3 children were asked if a magician could cause certain a
nimal transformations. Here, the 4- and 5-year-olds made no distinctio
n between possible and impossible events, reporting that for a magicia
n none of these events was impossible. Few children said that magician
s used trickery, instead suggesting that 'real' magic was involved. Ta
ken together these studies suggest that children hold a belief in magi
c, but not an overwhelming 'magical' orientation.