Shared-Reality Development in Childhood

Abstract

Many significant changes occur during human childhood, including cognitive, social-cognitive, and socioemotional changes. This article reviews some key phenomena associated with some of these changes and attempts to capture them within a single conceptual umbrella—changes in children’s shared realities with others. Shared reality is the experience that you have an inner state about something (e.g., a feeling or belief or concern about something) that is shared by others (a person or group). Four phases of shared-reality development are proposed: Phase 1 (6–12 months) shared feelings; Phase 2 (18–24 months) shared practices; Phase 3 (3–5 years) shared self-guides; Phase 4 (9–13 years) shared coordinated roles. In each phase, a new way that children interact with and relate to others emerges, and the emergence of each new shared-reality mode has significant self-regulatory and social consequences. These consequences include both major benefits for children and potential costs—trade-offs of being human.