Young children understand dinosaurs and The Wiggles are (or were!) real, and that fictional characters like Peter Pan and Spongebob are not real — but cultural figures like Santa or the Tooth Fairy occupy an ambiguous place in a child’s pantheon, a new study suggests.
Is Santa real? Examining children’s beliefs in cultural figures and ‘non-real’ people
Young children understand dinosaurs and The Wiggles are (or were!) real, and that fictional characters like Peter Pan and Spongebob are not real — but cultural figures like Santa or the Tooth Fairy occupy an ambiguous place in a child’s pantheon, a new study suggests.