If you were to ask the people around you who their favorite character from the Disney movie, Inside Out, who would they say? Four out of five people would say their favorite character is Bing Bong, Riley's imaginary friend. Children have wide imaginations and often create these elaborate "people" or "creatures" who have the ability to talk, listen and play. As I got older, I heard many different opinions on children having imaginary friends. Some adults have said it is normal, others may freak out and think something is wrong with their child, and even the occasional "imaginary friends are bad spirits." Well, whatever the truth may be behind imaginary friends, it fascinates me. I believe it is normal for children to have imaginary friends,
…show more content…
Children create imaginary friends for many different reasons. Jacqueline D. Woolley, a researcher of Psychology at the University of Texas, created a review The Fantasy/Reality Distinction Revisited: The Case of Imaginary Companions to discuss different aspects of imaginary friends, one being the reason behind children's creations. In fact, she celebrates the fact that children create imaginary friends for fun and companionship. They are also there as emotional support for children as they are dealing with loneliness, fear, and dramatic situations (Woolley 623). Another reason researchers have found for the creation of an imaginary friend is for the social aspect. Tracy R. Gleason and Lisa M. Hohmann are researchers in Social Development, where they performed a study called Concepts of Real And Imaginary Friendships in Early Childhood. Gleason insists the findings of her study suggest "children often create imaginary companions as social relationships given the similarities in benefits available from pretend and real friends" (Gleason 141). Both of these sources are not against imaginary friends, but more for them as they go into the reasons behind why children create them. My discussion of …show more content…
Anna C. Roby and Evan Kidd, both affiliated with Psychological Studies at the University of Manchester, UK, have performed a study on children with imaginary friends and their communication skills. In their study The Referential Communication Skills of Children with Imaginary Companions, Roby and Kidd state "the propensity to engage in pretend play has been linked to several important developmental milestones, including the development of self-recognition, theory of mind, and language" (Roby 1). Their research has proven that children with imaginary friends produce more complex sentences when speaking, perform better than children without imaginary friends on verbal intelligence tests, as well as performing better when it comes to speaking (Roby 532). A similar study was done on the communication skills of children with and without imaginary friends, which was done by Paige E. Davis, Elizabeth Meins, and Charles Fernyhough, called Children with Imaginary Companions Focus on Mental Characteristics when Describing their Real-Life Friends. Their credibility is with the Department of Psychology at Durham University in the United Kingdom and the Department of Psychology at The University of York in the United Kingdom. Their findings show that "IC-group children produced richer narrative accounts than their NIC peers both when telling a story and when narrating a
Children create imaginary friends for many different reasons. Jacqueline D. Woolley, a researcher of Psychology at the University of Texas, created a review The Fantasy/Reality Distinction Revisited: The Case of Imaginary Companions to discuss different aspects of imaginary friends, one being the reason behind children's creations. In fact, she celebrates the fact that children create imaginary friends for fun and companionship. They are also there as emotional support for children as they are dealing with loneliness, fear, and dramatic situations (Woolley 623). Another reason researchers have found for the creation of an imaginary friend is for the social aspect. Tracy R. Gleason and Lisa M. Hohmann are researchers in Social Development, where they performed a study called Concepts of Real And Imaginary Friendships in Early Childhood. Gleason insists the findings of her study suggest "children often create imaginary companions as social relationships given the similarities in benefits available from pretend and real friends" (Gleason 141). Both of these sources are not against imaginary friends, but more for them as they go into the reasons behind why children create them. My discussion of …show more content…
Anna C. Roby and Evan Kidd, both affiliated with Psychological Studies at the University of Manchester, UK, have performed a study on children with imaginary friends and their communication skills. In their study The Referential Communication Skills of Children with Imaginary Companions, Roby and Kidd state "the propensity to engage in pretend play has been linked to several important developmental milestones, including the development of self-recognition, theory of mind, and language" (Roby 1). Their research has proven that children with imaginary friends produce more complex sentences when speaking, perform better than children without imaginary friends on verbal intelligence tests, as well as performing better when it comes to speaking (Roby 532). A similar study was done on the communication skills of children with and without imaginary friends, which was done by Paige E. Davis, Elizabeth Meins, and Charles Fernyhough, called Children with Imaginary Companions Focus on Mental Characteristics when Describing their Real-Life Friends. Their credibility is with the Department of Psychology at Durham University in the United Kingdom and the Department of Psychology at The University of York in the United Kingdom. Their findings show that "IC-group children produced richer narrative accounts than their NIC peers both when telling a story and when narrating a