Abstract
We investigated the strength of children's tendency to give phenomenist readings of neutral questions about object properties (e.g. "What colour are these things?") in illusory contexts. The question was whether two kinds of social pressure to produce a realist reading would mitigate this tendency. In the experimental groups, pairs of children between 4½ and 7½ years of age were presented with visual illusions. In the symmetrical conflict condition each child had an equally illusory view which contradicted the view of the partner; and in the asymmetrical conflict condition one child had an illusory view and the partner had a non-illusory view. In the first case the realist answer provided a way out of an impasse and in the second case it was in direct opposition to the phenomenist answer. The number of agreed phenomenist readings was very similar to the number of phenomenist answers given in three solo conditions, and it steadily decreased with age. However, examination of videotapes of the interactions showed that the nature of the agreed answer was not unaffected by what the children said to each other and not unaffected by (separately assessed) social dominance. The data were interpreted as evidence for a lingering phenomenism.
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