The referential communication skills of children with imaginary companions

Abstract

The present study investigated the referential communication skills of children with imaginary companions (ICs). Twenty-two children with ICs aged between 4 and 6 years were compared to 22 children without ICs (NICs). The children were matched for age, gender, birth order, number of siblings, and parental education. All children completed the Test of Referential Communication (Camaioni, Ercolani & Lloyd, 1995). The results showed that the children with ICs performed better than the children without ICs on the speaker component of the task. In particular, the IC children were better able to identify a specific referent to their interlocutor than were the NIC children. Furthermore, the IC children described less redundant features of the target picture than did the NIC children. The children did not differ in the listening comprehension component of the task. Overall, the results suggest that the IC children had a better understanding of their interlocutor's information requirements in conversation. The role of pretend play in the development of communicative competence is discussed in light of these results.

The Personality Correlates of Adults Who Had Imaginary Companions in Childhood

“…The first dimension we identified was the tendency to be absorbed in an active imaginative life (i.e., Absorption). There is evidence which supports the observation that children and adolescents who have imaginary companions and adults who have such memories engage in active imagining and play (Ames & Learned, 1946;Singer, 1961;Mauro, 1991;Seiffge-Krenke, 1997;Bouldin & Pratt, 1999;Gleason, et al, 2003;Roby & Kidd, 2008). The first hypothesis was that college students who reported memory of an imaginary companion would also have high scores.…”

“…With respect to socio-cognitive development, Taylor and Carlson (1997) showed that 4-year-old children with imaginary companions passed theory-of-mind tasks before same-age peers without imaginary companions. Similarly, Roby and Kidd (2008) showed that 4-to 6-yearold children with imaginary companions outperformed same-age peers on a referential communication task. Since both tasks arguably necessitate adopting the perspective of others, these results suggest that having an imaginary companion is associated with advanced socio-cognitive development.…”

The Relationship between Imaginary Companions, Social Competence and Behavioral Problems of Preschool Children

“…Ponekad su izmišlje-ni prijatelji ljudskih karakteristika (23), ali javljaju se i oni životinjskog oblika (18) neovisno o dobi javljanja (21). Druga pak istraživanja ukazuju da pojava izmišljenih prijatelja i psihopatologija nisu značajno povezane (12,14) te da čak izmišlje-ni prijatelji mogu imati važnu ulogu za mnoge pozitivne razvojne ishode (8,10,18,(28)(29)(30).…”

“…Tako velik broj istraživanja ukazuje kako je interakcija s izmišljenim prijateljima pozitivno povezana s lingvističkim vještinama (4,7,23,28,30). Na području razumijevanja tuđih emocija autori pronalaze značajnu korelaciju između prisutnosti izmišljenih prijatelja te sposobnosti za razumijevanje emocija drugih (10).…”

Parental Website-Descriptions of Children's Imaginary Companions

“…In fact, they are even thought to stimulate cooperativeness (Gleason et al, 2003). This might be due to the increased possibility of practice with perspective taking of children with pretend friends compared to children without pretend friends (Roby & Kidd, 2008). With increasing knowledge derived from research, imaginary friends in childhood have therefore come to be considered by scientists as a normal part of children's pretend play (Klausen & Passman, 2007).…”