Cornell realism is like playing pretend with your toys, but you also think about how things really work in the world. You might imagine that your toy car is driving over a bumpy road, but at the same time, you know that in real life, cars need fuel and drivers to make them go.
In Cornell realism, people try to understand the real world by using their imagination and thinking about how things would work in different situations. They think about things like cause and effect, meaning what happens when something else happens, and they try to make connections between different parts of the world.
This kind of thinking helps people learn about the real world and make decisions based on what they know. So, just like when you play with your toys, you can imagine different scenarios, but also use what you know about the world to make sense of them!