Davis, P.E. orcid.org/0000-0002-0043-9991, King, N., Meins, E. et al. (1 more author) (2023) ‘When my mummy and daddy aren't looking at me when I do my maths she helps me’; Children can be taught to create imaginary companions: An exploratory study. Infant and Child Development, 32 (2). ISSN 1522-7227
Abstract
Spontaneous imaginary companion (SIC) creation in childhood is a typical imaginative play behaviour associated with advanced sociocognitive skills; however, the direction of causality has not been established. To investigate this experimentally, researchers must determine whether children can create, on request, qualitatively equivalent imaginary companions (ICs) to those created spontaneously. We examined whether children could create ICs, and how these compared to SICs. Nine elementary school children were encouraged to create ICs in a 3-month intervention. Accounts of elicited ICs were compared with an age-matched sample of interviewees with SICs. Seven children maintained ICs for 6 months post intervention. Template analysis of IC interviews found four themes: Realistic Play, Multifaceted IC Mind, Utility of the IC, and Elicited IC Across Time. Analysis suggests elicited and SICs were similar in nature and utility, although intervention ICs tended to have animal rather than human appearances. Findings support the argument that children can be encouraged to create ICs similar to SICs.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0). |
Keywords: | 5204 Cognitive and Computational Psychology; 52 Psychology; Pediatric |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Psychology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Jul 2024 13:59 |
Last Modified: | 10 Jul 2024 13:59 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/icd.2390 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/icd.2390 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:214329 |