Country： Japan

Authorship：Principal investigator  Type of fund：：Science research expense

本研究は、幼児期の「私」と「他者」との距離の問題について、秘密を通して検討するものである。

The research purpose was to make clear how young children understand secret keeping by focusing on their everyday communication, especially on psychological distance between themselves and their mates. Young children begin to understand that keeping secrets is covering up some information, while it was shown that they use secret keeping not only for distancing others but also for getting close to them through this survey. In addition, it was observed that young children gradually expand relationship with their close mates around with checking the psychological distance.

Authorship：Principal investigator  Type of fund：：Science research expense

In this project, three researching ways such as observation, questionnaire and interview were conducted to investigate into the roles of imaginary companions in infant mental dialogue. The main results are as follows. ①There is a possibility that imagined world by infants functions as a way of being connected with others. ②Imaginary companions are the existence for infants to cheer up each other just like their family members are. ③Family members show positive attitudes to the fact that their children have some imaginary companions.

Authorship：Coinvestigator(s)  Type of fund：：Science research expense