Imaginary companions Flashcards
what is play
Non-serious activities in which children structure
behaviour in idiosyncratic ways not necessarily related to
reality
what are types of play
Social contingency play (e.g., ‘peek-a-boo’).
• Object play (e.g., lego).
• Language play (e.g., babbling, rhymes).
• Physical play.
• Fantasy or Pretend play
what did children with an imaginary companion orginally get associated with?
personality defect, with type of IC indicative of
particular problem”
what are type of imaginary companions?
imaginary friend
personified object
what proportion of children during development will have an IC?
sometime during development, 65% of children will have an IC
IC are more common in
what about gender differences?
first born and only children.
• Generally between ages of 3 – 9-years.
Females:
Invisible Friend 27.6% 9.7%
Personified Object 12.4% 9.7%
Pretend identity 10.5% 26.2%
for children with no IC’s describe gender difference
girls: 49.5%
boys: 54.4%
chlidren with IC
Characteristics
IC children more likely to:
• be reported by parents to be _highly imaginative. _
• incorporate myth into their play.
• explain events as _magical. _
• Do not differ from non-IC children in number of real friends
(at least when < 10 years of age).
• Play episodes are reported mostly as _positive
experiences._
benefit of imaginary friends
- Understanding of others’ and own mind states.
- Language and communicative skills
- Creativity.
how can having an IC help with understanding their own state of mind?
Davis et al. (2011): engaging with a self-created IC
facilitates children understanding that their i_nternal world _
is private (i.e., not predictable from overt behaviour).
overall how can IC’s help with understanding other and their own mental states?
IC status is associated with better
understanding of others’ beliefs and perspectives, and
properties of children’s own mental life.
describe an example of how children with ICs can improve language
• Bouldin et al. (2002): children with ICs asked to tell a
story about a monster:
• IC children produced more:
• Relative clauses: The monster that eats dinosaurs
• Adverbial clauses: The monster ate the dinosaur while
standing on one leg.
• Add information about referents and actions – they
indicate that IC children make stories more
elaborate
how to children with IC’s perform in narratives?
produced better recounts and stories
- plot
- audience
- detail
Describe private speech in children with ICs
Vygotsky (1934): self-talk gradually internalised across
development → language structures cognitive
processes (e.g. problem solving).
• Davis et al. (2013): 5-year-old children with ICs use more
covert private speech than same age NIC peers.
• Brinthaupt & Dove (2012): adults with memories of
childhood ICs engage in greater self-talk
Creativity in children with Ics
Hoff (2005) found that children with ICs scored
higher on:
• Involvement in creative activities and hobbies (e.g.,
drawing, writing stories).
• Kidd et al. (2010): adults who had ICs as children
score higher on creativity
what is a study that overcomes cohort effects?
sequential study
studying multiple cohorts longitudinally
Enables researchers to unambiguously distinguish
between age-related changesandcohort effects.
• But! Incredibly expensive.
