Developmental Theory of Pretending

Psychology (and common sense, but who uses that anymore) tells us that different stages in life lend themselves to different stages of mind. That is to say, we come to think differently as we age. This is true for pretending, and here I propose the beginnings of a basic developmental model.

(I have not thoroughly researched this topic, and rest my conclusions heavily on personal experience and the less-than-random sampling of people whom I observe or am acquainted with (you can get away with that in the soft sciences, right?)).

Pretending, for our purposes, can be defined as thinking or acting in accordance with an intentionally imagined reality. Not all pretending is the same, however, as is evident when observing both children and adults.

As infants... well, actually, I don't know much about infants, and I can't remember that far back, so let's just skip to slightly older children. Kids, then, tend to engage in a lot of active pretending, for example when I used to tromp through the woods as an explorer, or have a certain shirt that turned me into a superhero. Or the people I knew whose child was always pretending to be a cat. Here the pretender typically engages in the imagined role for its own sake.

Later in life, this type of pretending becomes less common, as people tend to move from active, imagination-based pretending to more passive, others-focused pretending. This is evident in dress, mannerisms, hairstyles, and so on, as people pretend to be rich, pretend to be poor, try to stand out, or try to fit in. The pretender still participates in the pretense, but largely for the sake of influencing others.

Of course, there is overlap between the two types of pretending, and well-adjusted, genuine individuals might not ever heavily depend on the second type. That's just the general trend I see. And me, I'm trying not to let my imagination become strictly defensive.